The Very Last, Probably, Apocolypse
by Teenageriot2004
Summary: The Apocalypse has begun, and only a certain Vampire and Slayer can save the day. expect a few old faces Please Review, It's the only way i'll learnCOMPLETEThe first in three stories about what happens after Not Fade Away Second part ID : 2425836
1. The Beginning

Just so every one knows i'm not stealing things from other people; these characters are entirely Joss Whedons. Unless i made em up. those ones are mine. lol. any way enjoy the story.

* * *

Chapter One: The Beginning  
  
Angel stared up at the dragon. He wanted to kill it so badly. The last time he had felt this badly about killing something was before he had had his soul reinstalled. That time it had been Buffy, now it was this winged demon.

"Let's go to work," Angel told the others. Angel raised his sword to the oncoming army of demons.

Illyria moved at increasing speed toward the demon army. Before Angel had raised his sword all the way, she was a clear three meters in front of the others. She wanted revenge. Comrades of these demons had killed Wesley, and she was to avenge the death of her guide.  
  
Angel brought his sword down onto the neck of the first demon soldier. Instantly the creature was dead.

'One down, a million to go' Angel thought to him self.

As he had done this, an axe had begun to approach his neck. Spike quickly raised his sword into its path. The blade broke, but the axe was stopped. While the demon looked in shock at this, Gunn came from behind and snapped the beast's neck. He picked up the demons club and proceeded to batter any demons within five feet of him.  
  
Illyria moved towards a group of the demons. As they all focussed on her, the illustrious former queen of the world lunged toward them, ripping every joint from its socket. The demons could not touch her, and she knew it. It was in the midst of this battle, that she realised she recognised some of these demons. She grew angry. They used to follow her.

And now they had decided to follow the wolf, the ram and the hart. This was extremely infuriating. Much more annoying than the half breed known as Spike's disrespect, as he had never followed her. He was off a different world. But these demons used to be hers. They were meant for her apocalypse. She grew angrier, and as she did, the demons fell in greater numbers.  
  
Spike was punching demons left and right. There seemed to be an endless supply of punching bags running at him. What in fact was the case was that Spike was not causing them any real pain, and as such the millions of demons he was facing were just the same five repeatedly. This suddenly dawned on the vampire.

"Oh Balls!" he grumbled in a low voice. Ducking out of the circle, he turned on his heal and looked to the floor for a weapon. He saw a pole arm. As he flicked it up with his foot, he spun to face the group again. This time however there were now around twenty. Spikes usual grin turned to grimace, and as he caught the pole arm he swung at the first three, cleanly knocking them out. Spike smiled, and continued to attack the gang.  
  
Angel could see Spike in the corner of his eye.

'Never thought it would end like this' the vampire told himself. 'Not with Spike any how'.

Angel quickly refocused on the twenty thousand demons in front of him. He was actually surprised he wasn't already dead. He had expected the soldiers of the senior partners to be harder than most that he had fought. In fact, they were relatively weak. Skip had given him a harder fight. But there were more of them.

And while Angel had killed ten him self, there were at least a few thousand more in the crowd who wanted his death. Angel frowned as he cleaved the head off another demon. People always wanted to kill him.  
  
Illyria was effortlessly mowing down the rabble in front of her. Then he was in front of her. A large demon, around eight foot tall, with the lower body of a horse. A centaur it was not, as the top half was very much demon, not human. He looked down on the former goddess.

"You will feel the pain of a thousand deaths at my hands demon!" she quite simply told him.

The demon smirked. "Not today little girl," he told her in no uncertain terms as he raised his back legs, pelting Illyria across the alley and through a brick wall. Illyria slumped in a pile of bricks. She hadn't expected that. She didn't like being surprised. It made her ill at ease.  
  
Gunn was battering demons left and right. For a man who was badly bleeding, he was putting up a fight. Suddenly, as he battered one demon, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Like a knife through hot butter, there was no friction or resistance. There was a blade staring at him from his gut.

Gunn, using a club he had picked up from the first demon he had killed, walloped the demon behind and fell to the ground. He put an arm around his wound. The blood trickled over his dark arm. If there had been a river of blood before, then now it was an ocean. As Gunn felt the life seeping away permanently, he looked up to the dragon.  
  
Angel moved towards the dragon, but more and more demons crowded the way. He slashed back and forth with his sword, trying to clear the way, but more and more clambered onto him, leaving him out of sight to the others.

Spike, seeing this, clambered onto the garbage bin at the back of the alley, looked up at the dragon and jumped. He managed to grab onto the huge reptiles wing. The beast bent its neck back to look at Spike. It couldn't flame the vampire, as it would hurt itself. Instead it flapped its wing incessantly, trying to make the small creature fall to the ground. Spike tried to hold on, but his fingers slipped, and he fell toward the ground.

With a sudden thump, Spike had hit the ground. He looked down to his elbow and could see his arm had a bone protruding from it. As he looked back toward the reptile, he could see the liquid gathering in its mouth. Spike knew this meant that it would soon be breathing a heavy rain of fire down on him. Spike closed his eyes.  
  
Gunn leapt in front of Spike. The flame engulfed the young man, melting the flesh from his bone, cooking the muscles, and bleaching the bones. Spike opened to see the horror of a man being burnt alive. Gunn had sacrificed himself for Spike to carry on fighting. Spike clenched his one good fist, and jumped back into the crowd of demons. He couldn't take the dragon, not even Spike was that full of himself, but he could still take a few more demons.  
  
Angel thrust the demons off of him, sending them flying in all directions. Hamilton's blood was still flowing through him, and while it did he felt incredible. He looked toward the dragon and saw a pile of ashes.

'Spike's dead then,' he thought to himself.

He jumped at the beast, which was now grounded. As the dragon looked up it caught sight of the vampire's fist, just as it connected with its jaw. The dragon toppled over itself, falling into the building. It wasn't the strength of Angel that had struck it the most. It was more the fact that any one could have the audacity to try and knock out a dragon with a punch.

The beast was tangled in it's own enormous body. As it writhed around trying to stand up, Angel picked up a sword, one of the many that the dead demons had left on the ground, and ran towards the beast.  
  
Illyria stood from the pile of rubble behind the dragon. With blood dripping from her dead lips, she grabbed a piece of wood. It had splintered at the end, and would be quite affective if she decided to stab anything. As it stood, the dragon was top of her list. Then she would deal with the disrespectful half demon, half horse.  
  
Angel thrust his sword into the hide of the dragon. Rather unlike most things angel stabbed, the scales of the dragon blunted the sword. As Angel looked at the end of the sword, he neglected to look out for the tail of the beast, which sent the vampire flying into the demon army.

Illyria, on the other hand, had experience with dragons from her days of ruling. Unless you were lucky enough to own an enchanted sword, there was only one way to kill a dragon. And as she grabbed her pike, she knew that she would be triumphant. She may not be a god any more, but Illyria would not be made to look a weakling to this infant dragon.

She thrust the pike into the eye of the dragon, through the jelly that filled its eye socket and into the creature's brain. The dragon let out a faint whimper, and it's head fell to the ground. Illyria looked at the beast, tilting her head as she did so. She was satisfied with the death, she would, however, have preferred it to put up some sort of fight.  
  
Spike cradled his arm, much like he had cradled the baby only an hour before. It was killing him, but not as much as this army would if he let his guard down again. It was stupid of him to go after the dragon. It was a reckless thing to do. It was a Spike sort of a thing to do. But this time it caused the death of a man; Charles Gunn.

And as Spike punched into a demon with his one good arm, he felt some of his anger release. He repeated as required. As he looked round to find the others he could see that Illyria was beating the crap out of a centaur like creature, and that Angel was in the middle of a load of demons. He hated to admit it, but at the moment it looked like Angel was the strongest of the three. He didn't understand it, and he didn't like it.

The same as he didn't like a knife being in his gut, like it was now. Spike looked down to the blade and up to the demon. It looked kind of like the uber vamps he had fought the previous year. Spike quickly dealt with it, as he would have done the previous year; a quick kick to the groin, followed by a snap of the neck. It wouldn't kill it, but it would give him time to find a weapon to kill the creature.

He quickly spotted one of the numerous swords on the floor. As he brought the sword down on the demon, it exploded into dust. Spike smiled. He liked to kill things.  
  
Angel span, taking down five of the demons surrounding him. As more jumped, he held out his hands. For a couple of years he had used stakes, which would appear from his wrists. Knowing that the senior partners probably wouldn't use vampires, he had retro fitted them to carry knives. The demons fell onto his blades, and fell to the floor.

As Angel span to land another punch on another foe, he saw someone he hadn't expected. A short girl, with blonde shoulder length hair. "That was impressive," she told the brooding vampire.

"Buffy?" Angel asked the girl. As the question left his lips, there was no doubt it was the slayer.

Behind her he could see Giles, Xander and Willow. Plus about fifty girls he couldn't identify. Slayers.


	2. Back Up

Just a quick discalimer. These characters aren't mine. they're are joss whedon's. apart from a character at the end. he's mine. :) oh and sorry about the missused words in chapter one. blame spell check! grrrrr

* * *

**Chapter Two: Back Up**

As Angel looked back towards the army of demons, a punch landed squarely on his jaw.

'Why does it always feel like she knocks me off my feet?' Angel thought to him self. It was then he realised that he should have said it out loud. He never got any puns in.  
  
The Slayers jumped into the fight. Each one was knocking back the demons easily in their stride. As they burst onto the scene, the demons were falling back.

Illyria looked on at the girls as they killed demon after demon. She was intrigued. In her day there had been no slayer. What she knew she had from Fred's memories and what Wesley had explained to her. She had not believed them to be of much concern. Seeing this display of raw power however had changed her mind.

The slayers were quite simply clearing house. Every demon that attacked was sent crashing to the floor. For every blow a slayer took, the same and more was dealt back to the opposing army. Illyria was impressed. And it took much to impress the former demon goddess.

* * *

Spike was taking down a demon when he realised something. He wasn't dead. This was a strange sensation. Knowing that you should be dead, that your comrades should be slain with you.

Instead he suddenly realised that several girls were in fact helping him, Angel and Illyria.

"Slayers?" the vampire asked himself.

Of course it was slayers. They always showed up at the right time. The demon Spike was tangling with had noticed the distraction in Spikes eyes. It raised its arms, and stabbed Spike through the chest using the claws on its hands. Spike screamed in pain. It felt as if he should be dusting. The pain was exactly the same as when he had burnt up in Sunnydale, only he wasn't dying. The pain didn't go away. It just kept on coming, and coming.

Spike fell to the ground. The pain was too much. He couldn't carry on. Spike noticed Vi, one of the potentials he had shared a house with the previous year. She looked different. Almost like Buffy in her strength, showing no fear toward the enemy. All of them did. Spike felt a second wind in him self. He raised his good hand and punched out the demon. As it fell, so too did Spike.

"Bloody brilliant," he sputtered as he lost consciousness.

* * *

Angel was staring at the girl he loved. The only girl he had loved. He liked Nina, but it wasn't the same. She wasn't Buffy.

"How did you know?" the vampire asked, as he brushed himself of the dirt. The battle was falling back from the alley, with the slayers being the obvious reason.

"I told her!" a voice Angel didn't care to hear came from behind the group.

"YOU!" Angel shouted as he pelted himself towards the man.

Buffy put out an arm and stopped Angel in his tracks.

"No, stop it. We don't have time for this." She told the souled demon.

Angel stared at the man. He hated him. He had hated him since they first met.

"Fine!" Angel replied, with a hint of venom "But how did you know then?" Angel asked the man.

"The Immortal knows all!" The man replied calmly.

Angel hated the Immortal. He was the most dark, and evil man in the world to him. He hated him even when he was evil himself.

"Oh yeah, I forgot..." Angel sarcastically whispered.

The Immortal looked at the vampire with a raised eyebrow. He didn't dislike Angel. He just didn't respect him enough to care about his opinion.

Xander stepped forward, trying to disarm the hostility. Even though he hated Angel, he disliked the Immortal even more. Everyone else in the group loved him. That was the worst part.

"Look Angel, there's a slight apocalypse going on, so if you could just tell us who's out there on our side..." Xander was cut off.

"There's me, Gunn and Illyria," the vampire told them.

"Illyria?" Willow piped in. "the old one?"

"Yeah. It's a long story. She's taken over Fred's body." Angel explained.

"Wesley?" asked Giles, in a tone full of anxiousness.

While the ex-watcher hadn't been especially close with Wesley, he had kept in contact with him since he joined Angel's group.

"Dead, before all of this. All that's left is us," he explained, being careful not to mention Spike. If Andrew hadn't told Buffy about Spike, there was no use in telling her he had been alive for the last year, only to die again without seeing her.

Giles face dropped at the news of Wesley's death. While he hadn't been the most accommodating of people when they had met, there were few people Giles wished dead.

"What is this Angel? What's causing this?" Buffy asked.

Angel smirked "Didn't the immortal know?" The immortals brow rose. He didn't like the vampire's tone. "It's the senior partners. The ones who own Wolfram and Hart," Angel explained.

"Funny, I thought that was you," Giles quickly replied.

Angel looked at the former watcher. "I'm not the person who left Sunnydale five years ago Giles. I'm not intimidated by you because I murdered someone you love. You don't come to my town and take that tone with me. You wanna help me fight, you help me fight. But unless you like the thought of more people dying while we argue and snipe at each other, you quit with the attitude,"

Giles stood down, but was still visibly annoyed by Angels disrespect.

"The Senior Partners are the ones who have been planning the Apocalypse for centuries, millennia even. This is it. The big one. The final one. We either win, or the world goes to hell,"

"There is always a apocalypse or another being planned or prophesised. What makes this one any different?" The Immortal queried.

"How many you known other than this one where there are demons all over the streets, attacking everyone, everything in their path? Believe me, this is it," Angel took great pride in telling the Immortal exactly what was happening. He might not have wanted infighting, but he didn't like the immortal. He just plain bugged him. Even more than Xander. The gang looked around at each other. They knew Angel was right. This was it. This was the big one.

* * *

Illyria had stopped fighting a while ago. She was insipidly watching the Slayers fight. She was enticed by there soulful power. There were no slayers in her day, and now there were an entire army, almost a separate race from humanity.

As she looked over towards the battle she caught sight of a certain platinum blonde vampire lying in a pile on the floor. Illyria could see her favourite toy was badly broken. This annoyed her, much the same as Wesley's death had. The ancient demon moved toward Spike. Before she could get to him however, Angel and others were standing in front of her.

"Illyria, have you seen Gunn?" Angel asked her.

Illyria simply cocked her head and without a second thought told him "The one known as Gunn is dead,"

Angel looked at her, with sad eyes. "I guess only you and I made it then..."

"No, the annoying one is over there," Illyria pointed as she said this.

Every one turned to see Spike in a pile on the floor.

"Spike?!" Buffy exclaimed. "But he's- why didn't you say anything?" She addressed the question to Angel.

"I thought he was dead. Didn't seem any point in telling you he had been alive if he was dead again," Angel seemed almost sheepish in his response, as if he knew had done the wrong thing.

"Well don't you think I deserve to know?" Buffy had a tone of anger in her voice not unheard by Angel. It was the same one she had used when he had tried to protect her from a vengeful Indian spirit.

"I didn't see the point in telling you something that would make you react like this. We got an apocalypse here now Buffy, and it's not that important in the grand scheme," Angel tried to justify himself.

"I'm not blind Angel. I get there is an apocalypse. Chosen one remember? It's kinda what I do," Buffy had made her point. She could sense Angel knew he was wrong. And with that the point was dropped. "You still should have told me. Xander, go help him,"

"Help him too Illyria," Angel told the ancient goddess.

Illyria stopped, turned to Angel. "Do not forget who I am, half breed. You may be a leader, but I am a God." And with that Illyria moved on towards Spike. Not because she was told too, but because it suited her.

"I just can't win today," Angel muttered under his breath.  


* * *

Illyria and Xander picked up Spike, with one arm around each of them.

"Good to see you pet..." Spike groggily told Illyria.

"Silence, you are near death. Were it not for you're un-dead nature you would be dead," She replied, in her most sympathetic of tones.

Xander smirked. She was like Cordelia had been. He wondered if she had survived. "Hey there big bad. You look like crap," Xander told the vampire.

"Oh God, put a stake in me I'm done," Spike managed too squeeze the words out of his lips. "Why do you have two eye?"

"It is common for the filth that is humanity to have two eyes," Illyria interrupted.

Spike coughed blood. "No, this filth had an eye missing last time I saw him."

"Filth!?" Xander exclaimed.

Illyria looked at the young man. Not unpleasing to her eye, he was however annoying, much like the vampire. "Yes. Your race is that of scavengers, of thieves. It is a lesser race."

"Then why do you fight with us?" Xander asked, as they moved a few more feet, with Spike over both of their shoulders.

"Because it is better than the alternative. I no longer fit with the Old Ones, nor do I belong to humanity. I must fight to find a place in the world," Illyria told him.

"Oh Christ, you've got her started now..." For all his wounds Spike was still on his game when using his wit.

* * *

**Elsewhere;**

Deep under the battleground of L.A., a solitary figure stood in the middle of a room.

It was an old room, centuries old if not more.

The demon, as it was, stood at eight feet tall, and was a reddish colour. Not un-similar to Cyrus Vail in colour, the demon resembled Marcus Hamilton much more in actual appearance. He had long blood-drenched hair, with fangs not unlike those of a vampire. They were visible as he smiled.

It was at hand. His rising.


	3. Revelations

Hey. Thanks for the reviews :) they're great. oh but just fyi, the person who said Angel is already dead, he's not. hes undead :P . any way, as always these characters aren't mine. they are joss whedons. cept once again that guy at the end. who is he?? guess you'll have to keep reading :D . oh and this is quite a slow chapter. sorry. anyway, enjoy.

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**Chapter Three: Revelations**  
  
Buffy stared at the lobby of the Hyperion. It was bruised and battered, much like her Slayers. The battle had hit on many fronts. The demon army had been beaten back, but there were casualties. The slayers were good, but not invincible.

Spike was upstairs, recovering from numerous wounds. Buffy hadn't gone to see him yet. She didn't want to. He hadn't told her he was alive. No one had. She didn't want to look at him right now, let alone talk to him. She was more concerned with what was coming next. If this was the apocalypse, then surely there was more coming, and soon. That was one thing she had learnt from seven years in Sunnydale; you never get a rest.

Buffy sighed. She was glad she had left Dawn back in Rome with Andrew and Kennedy. Kennedy wanted to come, but since her accident in Brazil, she wasn't as mobile as she had been. She would have been too slow to fight in full on combat. She disagreed, as she always did, but Buffy was the leader, and what she said was final.

* * *

"What I say is final!" Angel was shouting at a couple of the slayers.

They were trying to put crosses up in the hotel. Angel was against the idea.

"Why?" asked Beth, one of the younger, and more annoying slayers.

"Because, this is my hotel, well technically I don't own it any more, but the point is... look I don't want any crosses up in my hotel!" Angel was annoyed by his need to defend himself.

"Fine, but we're telling Buffy!" Beth semi yelled as she walked off to find Buffy.

Angel sighed. He hadn't planned on this. His plan was kind of outdated now. It had read as follows:

1.Ruin Senior Partners plans.

2. Die in glamorous fight against evil.

That was kind of the end of his plan. And then Buffy had showed up. He could deal with that. He could deal with the reunion of the Scooby gang. He didn't like having the Immortal on his side. He didn't trust him. Not since he had "had" his way with Darla. He hated the guy. And before this was over, he knew that they would come to blows.

* * *

Spike was sitting up in bed. In the corner of the room stood Xander, he was looking out onto the war-torn streets of L.A., while Willow was casting a healing spell on Spike. It was meant to make the bone heal faster.

"BLOODY HELL!" Spike yelled. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Willow frowned. "I'm trying to make your arm heal quicker,"

"Well I don't think it's working," Spike scowled.

Xander turned around "Why don't you keep the complaints to a minimum walking dead man. You're lucky willow is even doing this spell,"

"Who asked you, Harris? You never did tell me how you got your eye back anyhow. Same deal?" Spike asked, trying to keep his mind of the pain.

"Yeah, Willow grew me a new eye. Kind of. Look it's complicated, and brings back memories I don't like, so drop it,"

Spike smirked. He had found something that made Xander uncomfortable. This could be fun. "What's the matter? Did it puss? Was it gooey?" Spike was smiling as he asked the questions.

"Shut up Spike!" Xander hated the vampire. It was tied between him, the Immortal and Angel for who he hated most in the world.

"Will you BOTH shut up!" Willow suddenly piped into life, "This is hard at nest normally, and with you two bickering like you're married, just makes it harder."

Spike stopped.

Xander looked to the floor.

"So why didn't you tell us you were alive Spikey?? Did you think Buffy wouldn't want to know?" Xander took delight in disobeying Willow. She was his best friend, and he felt it necessary to show her sometimes that not everyone feared her.

"You pillock. I didn't tell her 'cos I didn't want you lot here, stinking up the town!" Spike tried to defend himself.

Willow frowned, cast one last incantation and left the room. It was like the old days again.

* * *

This was nothing like the old days. Illyria was astounded at how the humans were gathering. In her time, humans hid. They cowered. They were mere bugs to her kind.

More to Illyria's interest was the one called The Immortal. She knew that she knew him. Her demon memories were hard to recall. Since she had lost a great chunk of her powers her memories had merged with that of the host body. She was neither Fred nor Illyria.

She was lost.

And it irritated her that she knew this being, but could not place her finger on from where.

* * *

Giles was sitting at the desk in Angel's old office, going over the Shanshu prophecy.

He was surprised that no one had informed him or Buffy about a prophecy that basically said Angel would become human again at some point. The truth was that Giles already knew about the prophecy. High-level council members were informed on most things. And Giles knew a lot of their secrets. He also knew that what was in front of him was only half the prophecy.

Angel came to the door. "What you looking at Giles?" the vampire asked.

"The Shanshu prophecy. It was among the pile of Wesley's possessions. He seems to have been trying to figure out if it was you or Spike that the prophecy referred to." The ex-watcher answered without taking his eye from the page.

Angel's eyes lit up with this knowledge. It was strange that Wesley, with all of his trauma, was still looking into this for him.

"And? What did he find Giles?" Angel asked.

"Well, if he had bothered to call me I could have answered the question for him,"

Angel stared at Giles. "If you remember the last time we talked, it wasn't on exactly the best of terms," Angel replied to the ex-watcher.

Giles looked up. He remembered the conversation he had had with Angel not long ago. His brow slightly folded. "Sorry, all I meant to say was I know this prophecy, and you only have the first half."

"What? How can that be? Wolfram and Hart had the biggest archive in the world. They had an ex-watcher who had stolen some of the council's records for God's sake. How can they not have known?" Angel was genuinely confused.

"That prophecy wasn't held in the Watchers Council building. It was placed in a trans-dimensional, well, hole in reality. It was the only way that we could hope to keep it safe. Obviously we didn't do a very good job, as you managed to find a copy. Or half a copy..." Giles looked back at the prophecy.

"So what does it say Giles? The rest of it?" Angel had to know now.

Giles sighed. He hated prophecies. He hated fate, or destiny or what ever you would call it. It meant there was no free will. Not even in the choices we make.

"It says that while the vampire with a soul will face a test before the final apocalypse. He can save the world, or he can keep his reward. He may be human without remorse, or a demon with a soul. When the choice is made his fate is set. It says if he sacrifices his reward he is on the side of good, but if he keeps his reward in the face of death then he will be fighting for evil." Giles told him with his eyes closed.

He found it hard remembering prophecies. He nearly always messed then up in someway.

Angel stood still. He had really given up his reward the other day. That meant he was fighting on the side of good in the Apocalypse. He had always believed he would fight for good, but there was also a niggle of doubt in his mind every time he would think about it.

He turned from Giles and walked towards the bathroom. He hadn't expected this. It was really the end. He hadn't wanted to believe it. But the prophecies always seemed to be right. Even the prophecy about him killing Connor was correct. He had re-written his sons life. He had killed the person he was and replaced him with a new one. He missed his son now more than ever. He wanted his son by his side.

* * *

In the sky a red streak of lightning shone across the sky.

It shimmered backwards and forwards, almost with a mind of its own. The energy shot down towards the ground. It ripped into the Hollywood Hills, tearing down the Hollywood sign.

As it hit, a demon appeared in the midst of all of the destruction. He laughed as he looked down onto the city.

"Fear..." it whispered in a gravely voice. It raised its arms, and as it did so wings grew from its back.

It raised itself high into the sky and flew straight for the ruins of the Wolfram and Hart building.

It was time to have fun.


	4. Plans In Motion

I own none of these characters. they're joss whedons. except the new bad guy. his Henchman sort of appeared in "You're Welcome", but i gave him more character. Thanks for reading. and please keep thereviews coming. :)

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* * *

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**C****hapter Four: Plans In Motion**  
  
In the bowels of what was once the Wolfram and Hart L.A. branch there stood a demon.

His skin was a red shade, his eyes dark green, with vampiric fangs.

He stood at eight feet tall, and towered over the control panel in front of him.

As he pressed dials and flicked switches, a device in front of began to hiss and smoke. A column rose from the floor in front of him. Inside it stood a huge creature. Even bigger than he, if that was possible.

The demon smiled as the glass cylinder smashed open.

Out stood a gigantic demon. Its arms stretched down to his feet, with its jaw being wide enough to swallow a man in one. The creature kneeled onto its left leg, bowing its head to the demon in front of him.

The demon smiled. "Fear..." it addressed the creature. "You know your target?"

Fear looked into its master's eyes. "Yes, my lord."

The hulk of a creature stood in front of its master.

"Good," the demon replied. "I think its time we paid a visit to a certain friend of ours."

* * *

Spike had been able to move his arm for about a hour now, and in that hour he had gone for Xander a total of twenty times. It was only the grace of Angel that stopped the two from fighting all out. There was no love between the three of them, but Angel needed all the help he could get.

And that included what he was about to ask Buffy. Angel had called every one of the Sunnydale alumni down to the lobby to have a meeting. Angel was behind the reception desk, with Giles next to him. Buffy, Xander, and Willow sat on the round couch, or what was left of it. Spike and Illyria were on opposite staircases. Spike was smoking a cigarette, much to the annoyance of everyone in the lobby. The Immortal stood next to the lobby entrance.

The slayers were upstairs, or out on patrol.

"Guys we're gonna need help in this. We're not strong enough to deal with the apocalypse on our own," Angel paused.

"We could call Faith and Wood," Xander piped in.

"We will, but I was thinking something more... sizeable." Angel told the group.

Spike stopped smoking his cigarette. "You are joking I hope?"

Every one turned to Angel.

"What's he talking about Angel? Who do you wanna call?" Buffy asked her former lover. She frowned at this line. She just hoped to god Angel didn't reply the Ghostbusters.

"Riley, and his soldiers..." Everyone was silent at this revelation. Everyone, except Spike that was.

"No bloody way mate!" the British accent was piercing in its intent. "Angel, they study creatures like me and you, not to mention demon girl here. They'd have a field day on her!"

Illyria stood up. "They will swallow the bitter taste of death before I allow this!"

Angel sighed. "It's really not up to you guys," he explained.

"Bollox!" Spike was blunt in his reply. "We can do this without 'em. We got Red; we got Buffy, not to mention like fifty other slayers, plus the rest who will come eventually. Why do we need the government boys?"

"Because Spike, this isn't about one city. It's not about one country. It's the apocalypse. End of the world. We can't fight the end of the world on our own, and that's a fact." Buffy told him.

Spike was quiet as she spoke to him. It was the first time she had said his name since the Hellmouth. Over a year ago now. He sat back down.

"Angel, while I too would be reluctant to call the Initiative, what do you intend to do once they have been summoned. I mean, you are assuming that they aren't already helping in some other way already," Giles had taken his glasses off while he asked this question.

"We'd organise some kind of defensive program I guess, I hadn't planned that far ahead." Angel replied.

"Too bloody right you haven't!" Spike piped in again, but with a quick glance from Buffy, the vampire was sitting down again.

"I'll call him. I'll get it done," Buffy reassured him.

Angel smiled, "Thanks."

"Right gang, lets get to work. Xander give Faith and Wood a call, find out how long it'd take them to get here. Willow, could you and Illyria do a little reconnaissance? I want you to check the surrounding area and see if the demons are re-massing again." And with that Buffy's troops snapped into action.

Illyria stared at the slayer. "I do this not because you request it, but because it suits me," She told Buffy.

Buffy smiled slightly. She was a little taken back by this woman. Willow had assured her that the girl she used to be was a kind and considerate woman; one that Willow suspected was attracted to her. It confused her to see this women/demon and think of her being what Willow had once seen her be.

* * *

As the others left, Buffy moved toward Angel and Giles. So did Spike and the Immortal.

"What do you think is coming next?" the slayer asked Angel.

Angel looked at her. "It'll be big. That was just the beginning of the assault. That isn't anywhere near the Senior Partners full power."

"They got more than a demon army in there hand?" Spike asked.

"They are the orcestraitors of the Apocalypse, William. Of course they have more." The Immortal informed the younger vampire.

Spike flared his lips in the way he always did when annoyed. He hated the Immortal almost as much as Angel, but he wasn't going to start anything while Buffy was around.

"He's right Spike. They'll have a lot more up their sleeves." Angel turned to Buffy, "Which is why we need the initiative in on this."

Buffy nodded. She understood Angel more than the others did. And she knew this wasn't what he wanted, but it was what was needed.

Giles raised a hand. "While this may seem incredibly stupid thing to say, but we have taken into account the fact that if a high level senator can be a member of the Black Thorne, as Angel has told us, then the united states government could be willing partners?"

"We're going to have to risk it Giles. Any government in the world could be involved. Maybe all of them. But Buffy trusts Riley. And while I don't like the guy, I'm sure he wouldn't stand by and let the world go to hell. If we contact him we'll get the right people," Angel reasoned with Giles.

"I hope so," the ex-watcher replied, sounding thoroughly unhappy with the idea.

As Angel was about to snap back at the English man, he heard something. A noise, like a low rumble. He could see Spike could hear it too.

"What's that-" Spike was cut off by a large explosion.

* * *

The entrance to the hotel was completely blown away.

There was, in its place, a gigantic demon, with a slightly smaller, but no less impressive counterpart.

While the big one was green, the smaller was red. He was wearing a brownish robe. It covered his torso, while a leather plate that went to the floor covered his crotch.

The Immortal stood fast. "Draven?!" He asked, with a tone of shock and urgency.

The red demon looked toward the Immortal.

"Well that's interesting..." Draven remarked.

The Immortal turned quickly to Buffy. "Get out of here! NOW!" he yelled.

The others were taken aback by the sudden change in the Immortals character. He was usually calm and in control, but now looked be lost and unsure about what to do.

Draven raised his right hand. Suddenly the Immortal was choking. Blood spewed from his mouth.

"No!" yelled Buffy as she lunged towards the Draven. She landed a blow with her right hand, but Draven simply stood strong. He turned his head toward Buffy as he landed a punch squarely on her jaw.

As the slayer hit the floor, she knew her jaw was dislocated.

The Immortal had escaped the grip of Draven due to this distraction, and was now on his knees holding his throat.

Angel and Spike ran toward Draven. The demon simply raised his hand.

"I do not deal with you. Fear!" As he yelled, the Green demon moved forward. "These are what you were designed to destroy. Have at it." And with that Draven disappeared.

Fear launched himself at Angel. As he did so, Angel had a series of images launch into his head. Doyle's death, Cordelia farewell, Connor's abduction, Buffy dying at the Master's hand. All the images flooded back. He simply fell to the floor. The hulk like creature took a swipe at Angel, and he was sent flying toward the ceiling.

While Angel gained some airtime, Spike had begun his assault. But just as quickly as it had dealt with Angel the beast had turned it's attention to Spike. Images soon appeared to him as well. Buffy's face as he went to far, Fred's death, killing innocent victims. All of his fears appeared to him, and soon he was on the other side of the reception desk, having proceeded to go through it. Giles moved toward the vampire, checking to make sure he was ok.

Buffy was standing, but she couldn't fight. She was already seeing her worst fears. Spike in the bathroom, Dawn's lifeless body, discovering her dead mother. The things that haunted her paralysed her. With out much second thought she had been punched through the elevator doors.

The beast turned to face the Immortal. As it did so it unleashed the power of fear onto him.

And nothing happened.

The Immortal smiled. "When you have lived as long as me my dear friend you learn not to fear things, only to accept them!"

Fear cocked its head. "You feared my master?"

"No, I feared what he could do to her. I accepted long ago that he was more powerful than me. You're powers show me my fears. I have none for myself, only for her."

Fear smirked. "No matter. I can still destroy you."

The Immortal looked at the beast. "Quite true my friend, you could,"

The beast smiled at the creature in front of him. "And yet you still face me?"

"Let me finish dear sir. You COULD destroy me, were you not standing over a portal..." Fear looked down.

And just as soon as he did he had appeared over the rubble of the Wolfram and Hart offices.  


* * *

The Immortal ran towards Buffy.

"Are you ok my sweet?" he asked as he cradled his love.

"Yeah, peachy..." The slayer retorted, with blood gushing from her forehead.

"Shhhhh..." the Immortal hushed her. He raised a hand over her forehead, and instantly the wound was gone. Buffy smiled at her lover. Giles emerged from behind the desk, leaving Spike in pain, but alive.

"Immortal, who was that?" Giles asked.

The Immortal turned around to face the ex-librarian. "That was Draven, and we are in worse trouble than we could possibly imagine..."


	5. Questions And Answers

Thanks For reading. this is my favourate of the chapters so far. hope you enjoy it also. once again i own none of these characters, except for draven and fear. and fear isn't exactly my creation. thanks for reviewing, and keep it up; its the only way i'll learn.

* * *

**Chapter Five: Questions and Answers**  
  
Spike and Angel were holding ice packs to their heads. They scowled at the Immortal.

"Bastard," Spike remarked.

"With his 'I can only heal those who I truly love' crap. That was such a line," Angel added.

Faith was behind the vampires. She and Wood had arrived about an hour ago, roughly two hours after this latest attack. They had luckily been in the area. They were heading for Disneyland before the Apocalypse. That just about figured, Faith had thought. Happiest place on earth was where she was heading, and instead she had arrived at the crappiest.

"So what do you know Immortal?" asked Angel as he stood up for the first time in about an hour. When the pain returned to his legs he realised why he had sat down. He couldn't sit down again however. He had to remain strong for his troops. "Who was that who attacked us?"

The Immoral sighed and looked at Buffy. "It was a demon named Draven,"

"Just a demon?" Spike asked. "He seemed slightly more than a demon," he rubbed his face in time with the last statement.

"You are correct William," The Immortal admitted. "He is the last one,"

Angel looked around at everyone. They all looked as clueless as he was. "What does that mean?"

"He was the one who removed the Old Ones from this world." The Immortal answered.

"What?" asked Willow, slightly shocked. "If that's the case, why has he only just showed up?"

"Draven was the strongest of the old ones. It was put to him to create a world where the old ones could reign again. You see the seed of humanity was sewn in the world, and thus had made it a weak reality. One not strong enough to sustain the old ones any longer. Draven knew that this was the beginning of the end. He decided it was up to him to save the old ones who still lived. To them he was a hero. He created the Quor-toth, the darkest of the dark worlds as a safe haven from what he knew would eventually be a race that could challenge demon kind."

Angel shuddered. His son had been in the Quor-toth for most of his adolescent life. It was a name that not many would say easily.

"Why not just destroy humanity while it was young, wipe out the threat before it is one?" asked Wood.

"The old ones were not the only ones to exist in this world. Another race also existed. Their name however has been forgotten. When I came into existence they were simply referred to as the Powers That Be..."

Another name that shook Angel. Everything seemed to be connected. His whole life really did seem pre-ordained to be how it had turned out.

"...It was they who placed a protection over humanity. Over me. I am the first of humanity. Immortal. The powers that be made it so that the race could not be harmed until they were sufficiently impure, sufficiently damned. This is where Draven created his ultimate plan. The Wolf, The Ram and The Hart. Three of the old ones..."

"Youths in my age. I looked down on them with disrespect," Illyria informed the crowd.

"Indeed, it was in these old ones that Draven found his ultimate plan. He united them, joined them together, not physically but spiritually. He also left enough wordings about the three in order for humanity to learn about them. From the Quor-toth their power spread. Their influence spread through the demon dimensions, but their one true goal remained: to take the purity from man."

This was inline with everything that Angel knew of the Senior Partners. The home office was earth. They had spread to other worlds.

"This occurred with one single act; a birth. A child, born of two vampires."

Every one looked around. "No, you see that isn't possible." Giles tried to reason.

"It is," Angel stopped them. They turned to him. "My son. He's the cause of all this?"

"Yes, I'm afraid that is the case Angel. You're son was created in order to allow the Demon known as Jasmine to return to the world, something she couldn't do while humanity had a chance of redemption. The impure birth created a child of man from evil. And so came forth Jasmine. She was to enslave the world. To remove the humans slowly, but surely. To allow for the Old Ones return."

"If you knew this, why didn't you tell me?" asked Buffy.

"I believed the Apocalypse to be avoided. Angel defeated the creature. And all was well. If the humans remained then the Old Ones could not return. It appears however that Connor's birth was enough to almost certainly wreck humanities chances. Draven's arrival has proved this."

"My son is the reason the world is ending..." Angel couldn't believe it. Connor. It always came back to Connor.

"And I don't get that," asked Xander "How could you have a son, and us not know? Who was the mother?"

"Darla was the mother. He was born two years ago, and he's eighteen. He lived in the Quor-toth for a few weeks and that sped up his ageing. Willow met him last year, so did Faith. But I had a spell cast when I took over Wolfram and Hart. Well, the spell was the reason I took over Wolfram and Hart." Angel explained, in a hurried rushed yay. He didn't like the way Xander was using that tone when talking about his son. "It removed any memory of Connor from the world. But a few months ago Wesley and Illyria re-gained those memories when they were exposed to a device which returned their memories to how they were originally."

The gang were silent. Buffy stood in disbelief. Angel was a dad. And his son was the cause of the Apocalypse. It never rained, but it poured.

"I have a uncle?" Spike asked, "I mean in general terms? I mean you directly created Dru and this, Connor? So he'd be my uncle right?"

"Shut up Spike!" Faith and Buffy shouted. The vampire held up his hands.

"But what does Draven directly have to do with the senior partners?" asked Willow.

"If the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart are the senior partners as you refer to them, then Draven is the founder of Wolfram and Hart. It is because of him they exist. They are here to devoid the world of purity. To create a world strong enough to be returned to the old ones. It is because of this worlds humanity that the soldiers of evil were weak in their return." The Immortal paused. "Humanity is sufficiently corrupt to allow Draven's return, and eventually if it continues down this path, then the soldiers will get stronger. Right now they are weaker because humanity has a slight chance of survival. I however do not hold those answers. We must go elsewhere to find those."

Angel looked up. "Where?" the vampire asked. "England, to the deeper well," the Immortal replied.

"But Drogyn is dead, so what will we find there?" Spike interrupted.

"The new keeper of the well," The Immortal answered, "It is he who will allow us a chance to save this world. Angel will need to face three tasks, as will the boy..."

Angel looked up "Connor?"

The Immortal looked at Angel "Yes,"

* * *

In a half destroyed room, a body lay on the floor.

Blood was on the floor.

It had been days since life had passed through the body of Lindsey MacDonald.

But he could see again. He was looking into the world. He could move. He could walk. His heart was silent. His blood didn't pump. But he was back.

His skin was already peeling, and cracking, but that didn't matter. He would find Eve, and she would help him.

A flash of light and Draven appeared in front of Lindsey.

"Hello Lindsey,"

"You! Why are you here?" Lindsey was shocked, almost afraid to see the demon.

Draven took a breath and feigned shock. "Is that any way to react to your father?"


	6. Life Is A Funny Thing

**I Own none of these character, cept one. hes mine. the rest aren't. god bless you joss whedon. sorry it took a long time to get this chapter up, but i found it hard to write. couldn't get started, then i could't finnish. but its up now, and i'm gonna try and get the next one up in a couple of days, if not two more up. :) peace out.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Six: Life Is A Funny Thing...**  
  
Lindsey shuddered at that word.

Father.

He had hidden the fact that he was the son of Draven for years.

"Why are you here?" He asked, almost tearful.

"Because, Lindsey m'boy, I'm taking back the world, and I've got big plans for you," Draven replied.

"Is this because of you?" Lindsey asked, pointing towards his cracking flesh.

"Of course it is. You didn't think I'd let my son go out like that did you? No, no, no, no. You're destined for something greater. I'm giving you the chance to end you life properly. I need you to do me a favour. I need you to kill a vampire..."

* * *

"What makes you so sure it's him?" Spike had been shouting this question over and over, ever since he heard The Immortal say that Angel had to face three tasks. 

"Because, William, your fate is separate from his. Trust me in this. I am as old as mankind, and I know the destinies to come," the Immortal explained.

"Balls," Spike retorted. "You didn't know this was coming, this apocalypse. Even you said that. You said you thought humanity was safe." Spike put on a bad version of the Immortals voice. it made Angel smile from across the room.

"The apocalypse is an event William, not a destiny. I don't know events to come. I find them out the same as every one else."

Spike smirked. "Yeah, well...your hair looks stupid!"

Everyone turned to Spike. "Oh cummon, it's the Apocalypse, I don't get a little credit?"

"Not with a comeback like that you don't," Xander piped in.

Spike scowled, and walked to the weapons cabinet.

* * *

Willow was on the phone. "What do you mean, Demon attacks?" she was saying. 

"Uh, What do you think I mean?" the other voice replied. It was Kennedy. "I mean that there is a fair in town and it rules. There are demons attacking people in the street over here in Rome. And there's only me, and a hand full of slayers here to deal with it."

"O.K., I'll be there soon. Love you,"

"Love you too Willow," Kennedy paused. "Now get your ass here and sweep me off my feet like in Casablanca."

Willow smiled. "I'll try my best. See you soon." Willow hung up the phone.

"Buffy, Kennedy and the others need my help."

"O.K. Willow. Riley said the Italian operative for the Initiative was called Wilkins. When you get there, pick up a phone a just ask for him. They monitor all the phone lines," Buffy made sure to explain.

Willow nodded. She didn't know why Buffy was telling something she had already heard a million times, but she just nodded.

"I know Buff, you told me like a gazillion times," the witch looked at her friend. "I'll be there in a second. I'll use the spell that Giles taught me."

Giles had used the spell two years prior, when Willow was out of control. He had instantly transported across the Atlantic Ocean to confront her. Now a days Willow was far more in control of her powers, and Giles had taught her the spell while she was in England recuperating. She hadn't dared used it yet. Only when Buffy had asked her to use it to teleport all of the gang over to L.A. to help in the fight had Willow attempted it. It had worked with her teleporting herself, The Immortal and Buffy to meet Giles and Xander just outside the city, so performing the spell on her own would be easy.

The witch hugged her friend, waved to Xander, and with a quiet incantation was gone.

* * *

Xander was working on fixing the lobby when Willow transported. 

With friends like Buffy it was obvious that he was going to be a carpenter. Someone had to fix the things that she destroyed.

Xander sighed. It was times like this he was glad that Anya wasn't around. He never said died. They hadn't found her body, and the thought of her still being around kept Xander going.

It was possible for her to have escaped, but not logical, but when your name is Alexander Harris logic isn't really part of what makes you who you are. If she wasn't here at least she couldn't experience what was coming. Xander may not have been the quickest of the group, but he did have a knack for feeling what was happening around him.

And he could feel this fight was different. He didn't know if it was the fact that the Immortal was visibly shaken by the last attack, or if it was the way it was an Apocalypse and he was wondering if they would survive.

Xander had never had any doubt in all the years before that they would survive. He had joked about death, but never taken it seriously. It was because he was so sure of survial that he joked. But this time there weren't any jokes.

No quick quips. Xander just did as he was told. He didn't want to make light of the fact people had died.

And that he knew more would. Xander sighed again, and turned his attention back to his work.

* * *

Connor had been in this shop for about a day. 

He had been pinned down by a group of demons who were camped outside.

He didn't like demons.

He liked even less the fact that his dad had told him to go, to leave the fight to him. He didn't consider Angel his father, as such. Even with his old memories and the new ones doing the smooshing thing, he didn't think of the vampire as his father. While it was obvious to Connor that Angel loved him, he couldn't think of him in that way. He felt for him, but not the way a son should.

He wondered now if his parents were ok. His real ones. Well, his fake real ones. His life was just too confusing.

Conner peaked out the window to see if they were still out there. A bottle flying inches in front of his face let him know they were.

"I hate demons," Conner muttered under his breath.

He bent down and picked up a broken piece of glass. It was a piece of the bottle. Connor peaked out once more quickly, and threw the shard. A scream in the background let him know he had done his job. A smile came across the young mans face.

"Although, I do like killing them."

* * *

Spike picked up a sword. It had a strange blade. Instead of a straight razor edge, it was curved and indented. It looked like some kind of cutlass, but a screwed up one. 

Spike liked it. It reminded him of the world.

The vampire sighed, and walked past Buffy. He caught her scent as he walked by. S

he might have been avoiding him, but Spike still went all light- hearted as he caught her smell. He was who he was now because of her. And she had chosen someone else.

He always knew she would, but he always pretended that she might pick him someday. When he heard of the Shanshu prophecy, it was like his dream had come true.

At first he wasn't going to tell Buffy he was back until he was solid again. Then he heard of the prophecy. He could be real again. But it seemed that Angel was the one the prophecy was about. Lindsey had set him up all along. And now Spike was what he always was; Spike.

A vampire who didn't fit in with either group. No one wanted him there anymore. Not one of them.

Spike sighed and carried on walking for the door.

"Where are you going Spike?" Angel asked without looking up from a book he was reading.

"I'm going out to kill things," the vampire replied, twitching his head like he was flicking back non-existent long hair.

"No you're not," Angel was now looking up, at Spikes back. "I'm going slightly out of town remember? And with Buffy coming with me, and Willow in Rome, I'm gonna need you here."

Spike turned. "Well, bollox. I'll be here later. You got a army of slayers, Faithy girl there, along with tall, dark and hates me," Spike was pointing at Wood. "Not to mention the amazing skills of carpentry boy here!"

Xander looked up. "Hey, what's that meant to mean?"

"It means I don't give a toss about the little group. It's the apocalypse mate. If I'm not here I'm sure it'll be able to find me. It's only the whole world that gets destroyed!" Spike was visibly angry now.

"Spike, this isn't the time to-" Buffy was cut off.

"Why? Its not the time cos you say? Oo, the big powerful slayer doesn't want me voicing my own opinion? Well you know what Buffy? You don't tell me what to do anymore. In fact I have kind of noticed that you don't tell me much of anything any more," Buffy's eyes rolled. "Fine. Role your eyes. Have the freaky sex with the Immortal ponce over there. I don't really care anymore. But don't cut me out of your life and expect me to follow orders!" Spike turned.

"I cut you out of my life?! No Spike, you cut me out of yours, and you can have your little angry fit on your own time, not during the apocalypse," Buffy's voice was breaking, almost wounded.

Spike turned back to her. He knew he was wrong. But he was also angry.

"Fine. I cut you out of my life," Spikes voice was calm. "And I'm doing it again. Don't come near me again. We fight the apocalypse together, and after that we don't see each other again. Cos you might have been able to move on pet, but I can't. I'm who I am cos of you. And I can't take it anymore. It's hard enough when you're not here. But this is killing me." Spike turned once more, and walked out into the streets of L.A.

* * *

Faith had been back for only a matter of hours, and she had seen Spike go crazy, heard stories of the ultimate evil and found out it was all due to Angel's son, who she apparently knew. 

It wasn't that so much, which shocked her, but the fact she hadn't been attacked yet.

She looked over to Buffy, who was staring at the door Spike had left through seconds prior.

"Hey B, just ignore him. He's a crazy vamp with the jones for you. There's like a whole two of them," She popped a look at Angel as she said it.

Buffy smiled. "It's ok Faith, I just don't wanna deal with him right now. There's more important things going on," Buffy replied.

Faith looked back at Wood. She hadn't thought she could feel this way. She was in love.

She knew how Spike felt, but he had to get over it. This wasn't the time for being emotional retards. It was a time to fight.

* * *

Spike hated the streets of L.A., and now the apocalypse was in full swing, he was less enthralled. Some streets were bare; some had hundreds of people looting. Some had police running from hordes of demons. Some streets, the hordes were human. 

And to top it all, the woman Spike loved was back in town. And she was with a man he hated almost as much, if not the same, as he disliked Angel. He couldn't get his head around that one.

And now Angel had a son.

That was just barmy.

The fact that a vampire had had a child aside, the fact that technically speaking he was Spike's uncle was really pissing him off. Spike remembered the kid from when he turned up at Wolfram and Hart. He hadn't looked all that powerful. But the end of the world was his doing.

So it seemed anyway. Spike didn't trust the Immortal as far as he could spit, so his explanation of events didn't exactly become the accepted truth for Spike.

He looked around.

Nothing around, but an empty series of shops.

He couldn't smell anything. The scent of Buffy was in his head, and no matter what he couldn't shake it.

A sharp noise reached Spike's ear. It sounded like footsteps on glass.

Spike looked to one shop in particular. The window was smashed. He couldn't smell anything, but Spike knew what he had heard. He walked over toward the window.

As he looked in he saw something move in the shadows. Everything was in the shadows. The apocalypse seemed to have knocked out the L.A. power grid.

"Come out, come out whatever you are..." Spike teased the creature.

In the corner of Spikes eye, he could see a body on the floor. The anger Spike had toward Buffy built up. If he couldn't take it out on her, he'd take it out on this fool.

The vampire jumped at the figure, which had tried to sneak round the vampire.

As Spike threw a punch he saw who it was. Connor.

"You?" he said quietly.

Before Connor could see who his attacker was, his stake had been drawn and had found its target.

"Connor..." Spike managed to mutter, as his hand took the stake. The extra flesh had blocked the stake from hitting his heart.

"Spike?!" Conner managed to blurt out. "Sorry, I thought you were a demon..."

"I am mate," Spike retorted, although the pain in his hand was easy enough to see.

Connor looked up. "Oh no..."

Spike cocked his head. He was now on top of the boy in a way which would have been much more awkward if he had realised how it looked.

Suddenly a ripping pain hit him. Square in the heart.

The final thing Spike could think of was how once he had died saving the world, and now he died in an accident.

He loved Buffy. But she would never know now. Not how much he really loved her. Not the truth. He muttered a final word as his flesh turned to ash.

"Balls."

And Spike was dust.

As Connor looked up he saw a man through the dust, or what was left of a man.

Lindsey.


	7. Mirages and Dissallusions

**i own none of these characters. joss whedons you're man for that. starting from the next chapter i'm gonna include a summary of whats preceded the chapter with each new entry. it'll just make it easier for you guys to know whats going on. um, this chapter was my attempt at "slowing" the story down. let me know if this sits better with you guys or not, after all this is my story, but whats the point in telling it if you guys don't like the way it's written. i got the next chapter almost ready as well, so it should be up later this evening. peace out...**

**Chapter Seven: Mirages and Diss-allusions**  
  
Reilly Finn had been with the army for as long as he could remember. He was a leader, and more importantly he was a fighter.

He had heard from Buffy about a half a day before, although it was obvious to everyone that something was going on. It was the apocalypse. Not the first Reilly had faced, but Buffy had sounded different. Not afraid. She could never sound afraid, not as far as Reilly had seen. But she till sounded different. Nervous maybe. Reilly tried to shake the thought. Buffy nervous? Never.

They had arrived in L.A. half an hour before, and had just reached the rubble of Wolfram and Hart. Buffy had asked him to check it out on the way to the hotel they were hauled at. The building looked in bad shape.

He had seen it once before, when he had been debriefed by the army after the Adam incident. On the way back to Sunnydale, the Iowa boy had stopped by the city of Angels.

And the building was in no way as impressive as he had once seen it. Soldiers walked around him, looking at various debris, trying to see if there was something to inside.

He looked over to Sam. His wife. Life after Buffy. She was a rock for him. Kept him from going crazy in this demon filled world. At times he had thought that he would go insane, end up no better than those he killed. It was the whole vampire thing that had made him feel this way. If he was ok with letting vampires feed off him, what else would he be ok with? Letting them feed of no-hopers? It made him shudder to think of it now.

He cracked a smile. He loved his life now. He loved his wife.

"Sam, anything on the scanner?" he asked.

Sam looked up to her husband. "Nothing solid. We get flickers of something beneath us, but we haven't been able to find a way down yet,"

"Ok, we better get looking. I don't want anything to come up and bite our asses later on," Riley sighed.

He loved his life now, but sometimes he got the sucky jobs.

* * *

Deep under the ground, Draven sat on a throne. It was made of what would look like electrical energy to the naked eye, but was obviously far more mystical in nature.

He was watching an orb. It showed him the commandos up stairs.

He smiled. The slayer obviously had a lot of friends, but she didn't know what she was getting into.

By now his son had probably done what he had sent him out to do.

Spike was the main threat in his plan. If he was allowed to survive, then humanity had a chance.

The demon sighed. He reached down to the side of his chair and picked up a fillet burger, and a pack of fries. It was going to be a while yet until he would have to face anyone.

He had the time to waste.

And the time to build.

In a split second the food was gone, working its way through the demons stomach. He stood up, and moved towards the control consol, which had kept Fear imprisoned while Angel had been in charge.

He flicked a switch. A door behind him opened, revealing an empty room. Draven walked into the room, allowing the door to close behind him.

"I'm going to need some resources," he muttered to himself.

Suddenly the demon clicked his fingers in realisation. He raised his hands so he was standing in a y like shape. He quietly muttered some words, so quiet so that only a vampire would have been able to hear them. A portal opened in front of him.

Draven smiled and walked through the red rip in reality.

* * *

Willow had been back a matter of seconds before an axe was flying at her head. It was disconcerting to her that she was comfortable enough with this situation to respond on instinct.

She raised her hand, and the axe stopped, reversed its spinning motion from anti-clockwise to clockwise, striking its owner in the throat.

The demon fell like a sack of potatoes. Willow didn't smile, didn't celebrate as others would.

She hated taking life. Any life. But it was kill or be killed, and as Spike had told her too years prior, she had picked.

Willow quickly looked around and saw Buffy's apartment building, surrounded by boards, cars and anything else that could act as a barrier. She could see movement inside. She ran towards the house, ignoring the battle scene around her.

Rome didn't look good. It wasn't how she had left it.

When her, Buffy and Giles had left to pick up Xander it was quiet, not abandoned or home to the battles around her, but quiet. The buildings were still in one piece.

But now, now it was decimated.

The buildings looked to be crumbling, and demons were on the streets.

Willow dodged the flames and debris and made it to the building. The door was busted open. Willow slowly moved inside the old structure. The lights were out, and everything looked trashed.

Willow had only spoken with Kennedy about a half hour ago. The incantation had a delay affect, which resulted in the transportee being deposited around half an hour later. Willow didn't understand how things could have gotten so bad in such a short time. The doors to the lift were broken open. She looked into the elevator shaft. The lift was crashed at the bottom. The witch sighed and climbed the stairs.

* * *

Reilly wanted to know what he was looking at.

The huge green monster in front of him looked more than the standard demon. They had found it buried in some of the buildings rubble. It was out cold. They hadn't been able to move it, as it was too big.

Reilly and Sam stood over the creature.

"What is it?" Reilly asked. "I mean, do we got an id on the species?"

Sam frowned. "No. Not in the data base."

Graham moved over to the couple.

He had been with Reilly since the initiative days. Now they were working outside the net officially, but they were like family. And where one went so to the other did. He looked down at the demon.

"I say we shoot it now," Graham said, not breaking his eye away from the creature.

"Go ahead Graham, try it..." Sam's voice had a hint of sarcasm about it.

Graham looked up at his friend's wife, then back at the demon. He pulled his pistol and fired off a round. The bullet went flying off the creatures hide and pinged against several pillars of rubble before leaving the vicinity.

Graham put his pistol away, a little shaken. "You coulda warned me..." He trailed off.

Sam sighed as she knelt down to examine the creature's hide. "But Graham, you know I love watch you mess up,"

Reilly smiled. He enjoyed this part of the job. The friendly banter. He loved seeing his wife and his friend hanging together. It made him remember what he was fighting for.

"O.k. children, we have a job to do here," Reilly stepped in.

"Children? You didn't just refer to your wife as a child did you?" Sam asked teasingly.

Reilly's eyes rolled. He knew what this meant.

"Cos you know you're not getting any of this now sweetie..." Sam pointed towards her ass as she said this.

Reilly reached out to encircle his wife with his arms.

"You know I was only joking." He told her.

She smiled. "Fine Mr. Finn, I'll let you off this time."

Reilly leaned in and gave his wife a kiss.

Graham turned away.

The demon on the ground opened his eyes.

* * *

Draven emerged from the room seemingly bigger.

He wasn't, but the energy around him gave the impression he was.

He was smiling.

He had got what he needed.

He moulded a figure with his hands. He gave it a humanoid body, with long nails. A skeletal face and armour made it look like some sort of children's cartoon villain.

The cloak, which Draven had draped over him, left no imagination as to what this creature was. The scythe confirmed it.

"Death..." The creature muttered.

Draven smiled.

* * *

Rome.

Willow reached the door.

There was nothing in hallways. Apart from debris and what looked like body parts. With the lights out Willow couldn't identify if they were human or demon. Until she found Kennedy she didn't want to.

The witch snapped her fingers and a tiny ball of light appeared. Willow raised her free hand and a force broke the lock, leaving Willow free to enter the flat where Dawn and Buffy lived.

Willow walked into the apartment. The reception area was reletivley undamaged. There were scorch marks on the walls, but nothing to suggest any real damage. It suddenly became very disconcerting that Willow didn't think of scorch marks as evidence of damage.

Willow noticed a blade on the floor. It was like the one the Mayor had given Faith.

Willow knelt down to pick it up.

And as a figure came from behind, Willow didn't hear a thing.

But as the axe the figure was wielding came flying toward her head, she swiftly turned and stabbed the man.

And it was a man.

Willow's eyes widened. She quickly disarmed the man with a incantation.

"Oh god, oh god, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Willow panicked as the man began to shudder.

She waved her hands, and out of the air created a bed, lifting the man up onto it with the power of her mind.

Willow again raised her hands, but this time she began the healing spell she had used the year before. S

he wouldn't be responsible for another death. "

Who are you?" the witch asked. "C'mon keep talking, stay with me!" Willow ordered.

"Wilkins..." he managed to reply.

It was Willow's contact. The initiative guy that Reilly had sent.

She had to save him now. If he was here, it proberly meant he knew where Kennedy was.

Willow looked down to him and smiled. "Ok, now this may hurt, but you're going to be ok..."

* * *

Sam saw what she feared most in the world.

It her wasn't death.

It wasn't Reilly's death.

It wasn't the destruction of humanity or anything as obvious.

It was a kiss.

A single kiss.

She could see Reilly and Buffy in each other's arms, sharing a passionate but tender kiss.

The perfect kiss.

The perfect moment.

And Reilly wasn't hers anymore.

As the tears spilled from her eyes, Reilly was seeing a different scenario.

It was Sam, but she different.

She was lonely.

Quiet.

She had lost her energy.

She was a walking corpse.

And seeing her like this was Reilly's worst fear.

Grahams worst fear was dieing.

Because of this he saw nothing. He didn't see his funeral, or his death.

As he was about to live it.

Fear raised its arm and punched Graham square in the jaw. He was dead instantly, and his corpse went flying into several other soldiers, knocking them down.

Reilly tried to fight his fear, tried to rally against it, bit it just boar down on him, holding him in place.

His vision cleared, as he could see Sam as she really was.

On her knees.

Crying.

"Sam..." he whispered.

From behind came the creature. It pulled back its arm and released a blow that cleanly carved off Sam's head.

Reilly's eyes went wide.

He wanted to be sick, he wanted to cry, but most of all he wanted to kill the creature in front of him.

And suddenly his fear was broken.

It was realised.

He could stand.

And he could fight.

And he could think.

And as he turned to run, ordering his men to do so as well, he did with a simple thought in his mind. '

I'll get the bastard Sam, I'll get him...'


	8. After Life

**i Own nothing. plus i have no money. so no point in sueing is there :P. well done joss whedon for creating these characters that gave us years of hoy. heres the latest chapter. i don't know if the split in perspective between Connor and Lindsey works. let me know. enjoy, review, and thanks again for reading :)**

* * *

**Previously in "the very last, probably, apocalypse"....**  
  
_Angel attacked the earthly body of Wolfram and Hart by taking out the key members of a group known as the black thorn. His attempts however merely succeeded in annoying the senior partners. In retaliation they sent a army to deal with him, Spike, Gunn and Illyria._

_ Before the army could destroy our heroes, a certain girl arrived to save the day with a army of her own. _

_The senior partners, realising the world was sufficiently corrupted, released Draven, the strongest of the old ones, to bring about the final apocalypse, the one where the world will return to the old ones control. _

_Draven released the creature known simply as Fear, a being created by the senior partners to destroy Angel if he moved against them. He then proceeded to create a embodiment of Death. _

_Angel had for the past five years been working towards fulfilling a prophecy which stated the vampire with a soul will earn a reward of becoming human again. _

_Although Angel had signed his part in the prophecy away, Spike could still fulfil it. Knowing this Draven reanimated the corpse of his son, Lindsey Macdonald, to take care of the vampire. _

_As we rejoin the story Connor stands in front of Lindsey, while Spike lays on the floor, merely dust on the road...  
_

* * *

**Chapter Eight: After Life...**  
  
_The Deeper Well, England. _

A figure walked in the shadows of his new domain.

He had only been here a matter of days. He looked over the rail of the bridge, into the hole.

He could see coffins among coffins. The dead bodies of the Old Ones who had remained in this dimension.

His new attire was not to his preference, but he had little choice. He mused to himself that he looked remarkably like a reject from Van Helsing, only with far shorter hair.

It was funny to him that he should keep this place safe.

He himself was not exactly the cleanest of souls. And that he should be in charge of safe guarding the tombs of these demon kings...

It made him smile.

His life was most defiantly not what he had thought it would be. It had taken a couple of turns before, but this was by far the most unexpected.

The man looked into the pit once more.

And something was different.

He could see movement.

One of the coffins was moving.

"What..." the man whispered silently.

This was bad news. But then again that was the story of his life at present. Everything was bad news.

* * *

_L.A., The United States._

Conner was understandably shaken.

A man he had met once, or rather a vampire he had met once, was dust in the air.

As Connor understood it, Spike was like his dad. He had a soul. And he was a good guy.

Which in a clean-cut world would make the man in front of him a bad guy.

If only life was this simple.

Connor looked up toward the man who had just killed Spike.

"Who are you?" He asked as he jumped to his feet.

* * *

Lindsey looked at the kid. He didn't know who he was, but Spike had attacked him.

This didn't make any sense to the ex-lawyer.

Spike was a good guy, or near enough.

Why would he be attacking the kid?

"Who are you is what I want to know?" Lindsey addressed Connor.

* * *

Connor looked at the decaying flesh of the guy in front of him.

"I'm Connor..." He tried to gauge Lindsey's reaction, but there was none.

"That supposed to impress me?" The Texan asked. "Why was he attacking you?"

Connor looked at the man. He had attacked Spike for a reason. And he obviously didn't know who he was, or Connor suspected he would be on the floor at best, dead at worst.

"Well?" Lindsey asked again.

"Well what?" Connor shouted at the man, with a slight amount of venom.

He was getting annoyed.

* * *

It was strange.

Connor could feel himself losing control, becoming the boy he once was.

Lindsey looked at the boy.

He could see he was angry.

But more.

He could feel his power.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at the boy. He was obviously more than he seemed. Lindsey wondered if his father would know him. Should he take him back to him?

Lindsey shuddered. He hated that demon. Sometimes he wished he hadn't left L.A. that day three years ago.

It was the start of the end. He had left to get away from all of this.

The demons, the lawyers, the fight. He was sick of not knowing where he fit. So he left. And he travelled. And after a few months he made his way back to his native Texas.

And it was there that he learnt everything. He was born for a reason. His mother had been impregnated with the seed of Draven.

He was to be the demons link to this mortal coil. In every generation one is born. That saying had been used about the slayer. It was also true about the spawn of Draven.

And each one had been drawn to Wolfram and Hart. Holland Manners had been the previous generations son. It was in these offspring that Draven's trapped consciousness learned of the world, and how it had changed.

It was with these offspring that Draven would be constantly in contact with the world, even if the offspring themselves would know nothing of it.

Lindsey was different though. He was a deviant.

He had rejected the law firm. He had left to find himself. And for once Draven had no direct link with Wolfram and Hart.

It was also the first time that the offspring of Draven had become aware of its true purpose.

"Who are you, kid?" Lindsey asked Connor.

* * *

Connor was starting to itch.

He felt like he was trapped in his own body.

He was going mad.

He was starting to feel like he used to.

And he knew that was a good thing. He didn't know why this was happening, only that he had to stop it. Some how. He was looking back and forth, up and down. Looking for anything that might help him.

"Are you ok, kid?" Lindsey made himself louder.

Connor flipped his head toward Lindsey.

It was him. He had been fine until he showed up.

"Kid? I asked if you were-" Connor punched Lindsey in the face.

A puff of dust erupted as he made contact. Lindsey hit the deck, out cold in one.

The itching was easing off. Connor was getting in control of himself again.

He could feel his mind easing away from its former self.

He felt in control.

He looked down at Lindsey, and the ooze which was emanating from the small hole that his fist had created in the mans face.

"Ew..." Connor shook the dust from his hand.

He remembered a talk he had had with Angel before. Before the memories. He wondered if this thing was a zombie.

He shook his head, and grabbed Lindsey.

Zombies weren't as cognitive. There was only one thing for it.

He would have to find Angel. And there was only one place to start looking...


	9. A Darker Day

**Hey again. Welcome to another chapter of my little story. This ones more of a reflective chapter, rather than trying to move the story along. There is still some plot development, but the next chapter will be amazing, even if I do say so myself. Seriously. If you like this story, I got a feeling the next chapter will be great for you guys. I've also decided that this story is going to be the first of Three dealing with the Apocalypse. i got all the parts worked out, and this one ends at chapter 15. Thanks for reading, and as always review and rate me, other wise I'll never learn. Peace out...  
**

* * *

**Chapter Eight: A Darker Day**

_L.A._  
Buffy hated the jackass.

He was always doing his own thing. For once couldn't he have stuck around for the sake of everyone else?

Of course he couldn't. Stupid, arrogant, pig-headed Spike. The man Buffy had cried over for half a year. The man Buffy had just about gotten over. The man that no one had bothered to inform her was actually alive and not a pile of ashes several miles under California.

Buffy sighed.

She hated L.A. as it always reminded her of everything wrong in the world. It was like New York, the people were pushy, the roads busy, the shop assistants rude, but no one questioned it because it was sunny. It reminded her of Sunnydale; the public ignored the truth because the illusion was better.

* * *

Connor had been carrying this guy around for about an hour.

The annoying thing about his jumbled memories was that he couldn't remember his way around anymore.

He was looking for the Hyperion hotel, but at this rate he couldn't find needle in a needle stack.

The young man sighed.

Then it clicked in his mind.

"I got vampire senses..." he almost cringed as he said it.

How could he have forgotten something so basic, so simple and obvious?

He sighed, and breathed in the air. He could taste something.

Power. Strength. Like the Faith chick he met a year earlier.

Although there was lots of them. Hundreds maybe.

He didn't understand it, but he knew that his father would be with them. If he was alive.

Then it dawned on him. He actually thought of Angel as his father. For a brief second.

He shook it off.

An accident.

He moved in the direction his senses told him too, keeping to the shadows, avoiding any of the fights or demons that were all over the street.

* * *

Reilly Finn was in an alley.

He learned against the wall, both hands supporting him.

His wife was dead.

Gone.

Taken from him.

By that creature, that thing.

He felt strange.

He puffed his cheeks, and started having a spasm. He puked onto the wall.

Wiping his mouth he stood up.

None of his soldiers were there.

He guessed they hadn't made it.

He was going to be sick again, at least his body wanted to be.

Reilly looked round the corner of the alley.

Nothing.

The streets were bare.

No people.

No demons.

It was like one of those films. 28 days later maybe. Only this was reality.

Reilly peered again to double check the area. With no demons in his sites Reilly continued his way to the hotel. If he were going to take out that thing he'd need help.

* * *

Illyria was curious.

The older man acted like Wesley. He had the same strange defined accent as him also. And she found him attractive in the same way she remembered Fred finding Wesley attractive.

The old one was confused by these mortal feelings. She was above them after all.

Or at least she was meant to be.

And yet she couldn't shake the feeling of needing someone, a body to lie with in these troubling days.

It was the half-breeds fault that she felt this way.

If they hadn't shot her with that device she would be able to ignore the shell's needs.

She was weak. And that was the worst feeling of all to her.

* * *

Angel stood over the desk, looking down at a prophecy.

His prophecy.

Well was his prophecy.

He had signed it away for good now.

It didn't matter any way.

The important thing was the fight. And saving the world. Not destroying the enemy.

That was impossible. You couldn't defeat evil. You could only piss it off and hold it back.

And Angel intended to learn the best way of doing this.

And to do that he would have to go to the deeper well.

And to do that he needed Giles to make a break through on the incantation he was working on. The longer they were here the more time Draven gained.

* * *

Giles didn't like this at all.

Incantations he could deal with.

A demon goddess staring at him as if she was interested was another thing entirely.

Rupert Giles, despite belief to the contrary, had been quite the ladies man when he was younger.

And he could recognise when someone was interested, even if they were an ancient demon queen.

Giles sighed and looked back to the map of England Angel had given him. Working out the exact co-ordinates of the Deeper well was rather annoying.

Giles thought of the dead in this fight. Slayers and friends. Or comrades at the least. Wesley.

He looked into space as the thought came to him. Unfortunately that space contained Illyria.

Giles quickly returned to his work. If she weren't a demon, then Giles would have been interested...

* * *

_Rome_  
Willow sat next to the bed she had made, where Wilkins laid.

She wondered where Kennedy was. Dawn. God, she wanted to know if Andrew was ok.

She looked around the apartment.

She kept looking back at the scorch marks. She wanted to know how they were made. Wilkins would wake soon. Hopefully he could help.

The spell hadn't taken nearly as long as it had when Willow used it.

And she was sure it wasn't as painful, although the soldier had grimaced a couple of times during the casting stages.

Willow looked around once more and wondered for the first time in eight years if she would see her friends again...

* * *

_The Deeper Well_  
The figure looked on at the unravelling scene beneath him.

The coffin was moving. Or being moved. Either way, it was bad.

The man pulled his sword from its sheath and jumped down in to the deeper well.

As he fell he braced himself for the landing.

As he hit the coffin, a demon jumped out and clawed at the guy.

Raising his sword, the figure managed to block the attack. He could not however block the second.

And the claws jarred into his side. He had never been good with swords particularly. He had always preferred guns.

He rolled himself off the coffin and onto one several feet below. As he hit the coffin, he started thinking maybe his life could get worse...

* * *

_ L.A._  
Buffy had decided to go looking for Spike about a half an hour ago.

Angel had argued.

But Buffy didn't care.

There was no way he was going to win this one.

If it was their last argument before what looked to be the final fight, then she would tell him exactly how she felt.

She looked around the streets. She couldn't really make out much. It was too dark. The lights were still out. Only moonlight lit up the odd bit of pavement.

Buffy heard a noise behind her, and turned quickly.

She could see movement in the shadows. It looked to be heading back to the hotel.

And it was obviously trying to avoid her. Buffy turned towards the movement and walked towards it. Her pace was such that she made little sound but was able to catch up with the movement easily.

* * *

Connor looked over his shoulder to see a fist hit him on the nose.

He hit the deck before he could react.

As he tried to stand up his vision cleared and he could see a girl.

Short, blonde hair, and extremely attractive. Connor liked her.

"Why the hell did you do that?" he demanded.

"Excuse me pip-squeak, I ask the questions. And first is what the hell are you doing with that corpse??" Buffy replied to the kid.

Connor sized her up. "A slayer, huh?"

Buffy was slightly surprised but not entirely. "Who are you then?" she asked. "You working for the bad guys?"

Connor smirked. "I'm Angel's son. Whatever side he's on."

Buffy looked with widened eyes. He was shorter than she expected. She didn't know why, he just was.

* * *

**P.S. Becasue of over whelming demand, i will be returning to Spike. I got an idea, but it will probably happen in the second story. not long to go now guys. keep reviewing...**


	10. The Bigger Picture

**This is my favourite chapter in the story so far. I hope you enjoy. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Please keep it up. If I screw up again (Can't believe I spelt Riley wrong...) let me know so I can sort it out. It anyone else wants the answers to Spiked Collar's comments in his review, email me and I'll send them to you. I don't really have any way of putting the answers in the story. Sorry. But thanx for reading, and enjoy this latest chapter of the first in a trilogy of stories. Peace out.**

* * *

**Chapter Ten: The Bigger Picture...**  
  
_L.A., United States_

Buffy looked at the young man standing in front of her. Connor, Angel's son.

"We've been looking for you?" she meekly told the kid.

Connor smirked. "Last I heard, you slayers weren't exactly on best terms with my dad. What changed?"

"He was in charge of Wolfram and Hart back then. We're on the same side now..." Buffy told the kid.

Connor looked hard at Buffy.

He couldn't believe what she had just said.

"That's big of you. I mean, now he's risked his and his friends' lives you forgive him. If I were him I'd have told you to stick it..." Connor looked to the floor.

"Well you're not him. And thank God we did turn up, other wise he would be dead."

The last comment made Connor's head shoot back up. "Some of us already are."

Connor was getting angry.

"I'm sorry about Wesley, and Gunn, and Fred, but we came as soon as we could, and we did as much as we could to help in the fight. But now I need you're help. You have to come with us..."

Buffy stopped as Connor interrupted her.

"And Spike? What about him?" Connor stared at Buffy. "It's great to be sorry for them, but it doesn't change the fact they're dead!"

"Spikes not dead." Buffy muttered the next bit under her breath. "Although if he were no-one would tell me..."

"This guy dusted him, not one hour ago" Connor was pointing at Lindsey.

"No, I think you're mistaken. It was probably just another Billy Idol wannabe vamp..." Buffy trailed off.

"No, I could smell him. It was Spike."

There was silence for a breath moment.

Connor broke the silence. "I gotta find my dad, tell him..."

Buffy didn't hear him though. All she could do was stare at the body on the floor.

'This guy killed Spike?' she thought to herself.

It wasn't fair.

He was always doing this.

Leaving before she could tell him how she felt.

Last time he refused to accept the truth that she loved him.

This time he died believing that she hated him.

It was a horrible feeling to lose someone you love.

It was worse to get them back and have them torn away again.

"Which way?" Connor asked the Slayer.

Buffy looked up. "Huh?"

"To the hotel. I need to take this guy to Angel." Connor told her.

"That's good, cos he's been looking for you," Buffy stopped for a minute, a puzzled look on her face. "Where were you going if you don't know where the hotel is?"

"I was following my nose," Connor explained "But it's not as accurate as actually knowing where to go."

"Oh..." Buffy replied. "Ok. Well we gotta get you back to the hotel so you can help us out..."

"Help you out??" Connor had a hint of surprise on his voice, coupled with a dash of anger. "Dad said I wasn't meant to help, he told me to go away, to get out of here..."

Buffy looked at the boy.

"Well, thanks but no thanks. I'm dropping this corpse that's pretending to be human, and I'm outta here..."

"No." Buffy told the kid. "We need your help."

Connor looked at Buffy.

There was no mistaking it now.

He was Angel's son.

That same look in his eyes.

It made Buffy shudder. "We need your help to stop this. All of this." Buffy motioned around the streets, with the rubble and destruction everywhere.

Connor looked at Buffy. "Which way?"

Buffy pointed towards the Hotel.

* * *

"Is it ready yet?" Angel bellowed from what had used to be his office.

"Yes, it's finished, no thanks to your co-ordinates..." Giles yelled back.

Angel walked out of his office, a sword firmly in his grip. "Good, now all we gotta do is wait for Buffy to get back,"

As Angel said this Buffy walked in the door.

"Then we can go find Connor..." Connor followed her carrying Lindsey.

Xander looked at the door. "I want a very naked lady with a million dollars,"

Nothing happened.

Everyone turned to Xander.

"What?!" he defended himself.

Faith and Wood looked at the kid, almost sizing him up, as if preparing for trouble should it emerge.

Angel had told Faith of Connor's past before the spell, and she wanted to be ready for if went all captain insano on them.

Angel walked over to Connor. He could see Lindsey's body.

"Connor, what..." he was cut off before any more words could leave his lips.

"He attacked me, after he had dusted you're blonde vampire friend," Connor explained before Angel could ask. "But, you killed him?"

Angel was confused now. He had told Lorne to kill Lindsey at the end of their assignment.

"No, he was like this when he got to me..." Connor trailed off.

Angel stared at Connor, then at Lindsey, and finally Buffy.

"I don't know, he was carrying him when I found them..." the slayer answered without needing to be asked.

Angel sighed. Life was much simpler when he got drunk had his way with the bar maids.

Although he couldn't remember much of being human, he could remember life was easier.

"We don't have time to deal with this," Angel was looking at Buffy as he said this.

He turned and addressed Illyria. "Get to the bottom of it while we're gone."

Illyria stood up. "You dare to command me?"

"Save it god girl," Xander had interrupted before Angel could address her. "It's the big crunch time. I don't like dead man walking there, but I'm not gonna bring it up now. Neither are you. We're gonna fight. And when the fighting's done, we argue."

Illyria glared at Xander. "I do not like you." She told him.

She proceeded to walk over to Lindsey and pick him up.

As Illyria walked off, Angel acknowledged Xander's contribution, and turned to Connor.

"We need you to come with us, to England..."

"England? Really?" Connor seemed genuinely excited to be going out of the country. "The only time we went any where was when we went to Canada, and there was this whole cross dressing lumber jack incident..." Connor stopped talking. "So why are we going?"

Angel took a strange glance at Connor, and then continued. "We're going to a place called the Deeper Well. It's a burial ground for ancient demons."

Connor looked at his father. "Cool"

"Indeed," Giles commented, with a raised eyebrow.

* * *

The Immortal stood next to Illyria.

Lindsey MacDonald sat on the chair in front of them, still unconscious.

The Immortal turned to Illyria. "What are you going to do with him?"

"Torture him until he reveals his secrets to me," Illyria was very matter of fact in her answer.

The Immortal looked at her with wide eyes. "You are incredibly pure," Illyria turned to face him.

"You are tiresome," And with that Illyria turned back to Lindsey, watching him carefully, in case he tried to feign his unconsciousness.

The Immortal walked back into the shadows of the room, a smile on his face.

* * *

"Are you ok?" Xander asked Buffy, as he walked into the room Buffy was calling home.

The slayer looked up to her friend. "Yeah, I'm ok Xander. We've faced the apocalypse before." She smiled as she delivered the last line.

"You know what I mean Buff," He moved towards her and sat on the bed, next to her. "It took you a age to get over Captain Peroxide, and then he's alive again, and then he's dead. Are you sure you're ok?"

"I can't be anything but Xand, it's what looks to be the last ever battle, and I'm the slayer-"

Xander cut her off "You're one of the whole army of slayer's we got Buff, heavy emphasis on the plural." Xander looked lovingly at his friend. "You don't have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders,"

Buffy smiled. "You know that's not true. You know I'm the most experienced. I have to lead the girls. We have to fight, and then we can greave. For everyone," Xander looked at his friend and remembered why he loved her.

* * *

Riley hadn't seen the creature again.

He was still making his way back to the hotel.

The only problem was he no longer had the equipment to know exactly where he was in the city.

He looked again for a street sign.

Sharp pains made him look back down to his side.

He was bleeding. He didn't know what had caused it, but he had a gash in his side.

He had to get to Buffy soon. He didn't know what use he could be, but he wanted to take that thing down for Sam.

He HAD to take that thing down for her.

* * *

Buffy, Angel, Connor and Giles stood in a circle in what had been the reception to the once proud hotel.

Giles looked to the floor and muttered a few words in some ancient demon language that no one but Wesley would have been able to understand, and in a burst of mystical energy the four were gone.

Faith looked at where they had been. She looked back to the girls.

"Right listen up, this isn't going to be like last time I was in charge. We're not going to any nightclubs; we're going to split into patrol groups. I want a four block radius of this building scouted out and made demon free, is that clear?" Silence greeted Faith's question.

The Slayer herself moved so she was standing in front of the girls. The girls looked at Faith, and all slowly nodded individually.

"Good, now lets get to work."

* * *

_Rome, Italy._

Willow stood up and looked out the window.

Wilkins for the minute was stable.

It still concerned her that she didn't know what had done this to the city. The more she looked around, the more she could see it was crumbling.

She sighed.

"Dawn and Kennedy are out there somewhere..." She muttered to herself.

She looked back to Wilkins. He was moving in his sleep.

Willow moved over to him and felt his brow. He was sweating. It was obviously a nightmare.

Willow wondered what was making him react like this, what nightmare could produce this fear. Wilkins eyes shot open.

"Dragon!" he yelled.

Willow turned to see an enormous beast outside the window, looking in.

"Uh oh," Willow meekly let out.

* * *

_The Deeper Well, England._

Angel hated coming to England.

He always ended up in a fight.

The Deeper Well had greeted them much like the first time, sending out hordes of warriors to try and take down the visitors.

Angel hacked into another man.

Buffy upper cutted one running straight for her. The force of her punch plus the warrior's speed factored into how high and how far he went. They didn't see him again.

Connor was like Buffy on speed. His movements were too much for the warriors. He was dodging every blow, and landing one for each he dodged.

Giles was holding one at bay with a sword he had retrieved from one of the warriors Angel had killed.

All in all, the deeper well didn't seem to be that much different than L.A. at the moment to Connor. Sure there were more tree's, but that was the only difference.

* * *

Inside the Deeper Well, it's guardian clawed his way back onto the bridge that hovered over the hole.

He had healed himself using the new power he was granted, but they hadn't given him anything useful like teleportation or flying powers.

As he climbed up he could hear a noise. It was coming from outside.

"The warriors!" the man exclaimed. He grabbed his sword and ran for the entrance.  
  
Angel thrust his sword into one of the warriors, killing him instantly.

"How many more are there?" Giles yelled over the din, as he tried to fend off a duo of warriors.

"I'm not sure. I don't think there were this many before-" Angel stopped as a figure emerged from the tree.

"Cease!" the man yelled.

The warriors stopped in their tracks and disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

Buffy and Connor walked over to Angel and Giles, having been separated during the chaos of the battle.

"What happened?" Buffy asked Angel. She followed his gaze to the figure. "Wesley?"

* * *

_L.A., United States._

"Tell me what you know, or I will send you to death far more permanent than that which the green one did!" Illyria was standing over Lindsey with a hand on each shoulder.

"I can't tell you!" the decomposing man replied.

"You will tell me, or I will-" The Immortal cut her off.

"Why can't you tell us Mr MacDonald?" he asked in his rich voice.

Lindsey looked at the man through his rotting eyes. "You're the immortal, right?"

"Very astute," The Immortal replied, eyeing the young dead man. "How would you know that?"

"L.A. branch of Wolfram and Hart wasn't this dimensions head office for no reason,"

Lindsey coughed up some blood, what little was left in his body.

"Fascinating as that is, why can you not tell us what we wish to know?" The Immortal asked.

Lindsey looked back towards Illyria. "Spell. Stops me telling you anything," The Immortal looked at Lindsey.

"Spawn of Draven are you?"

Lindsey looked up. "Don't say that name."

The Immortal took a slight smile at that statement.

* * *

_Rome, Italy._

Willow brought up a barrier around herself and Wilkins.

The dragon released a wave of fire towards the witch.

The barrier acted as a rock in a waterfall, breaking the fire so that it curved around Willow and Wilkins.

Willows eyes shot black, and her hair turned white.

Wilkins could make out through the flame a figure engulfed in white light.

The dragon ceased the flame. If it had been human it would have cocked its head in confusion.

As it was it just snorted at Willow.

The witch raised her hands, and whispered a few words.

Suddenly a flash of energy erupted from her hands, engulfing the dragon.

The beast flapped its wings incessantly, trying to break free of the energy.

As it was doing this, Willow raised herself high above the buildings, in an attempt to draw the dragon away the streets.

The beast finally freed itself from Willow's spell, and shook its head.

It finally caught a glimpse of light high in the sky, and headed for it, charging Willow down.

* * *

_The Deeper Well, England._

Angel looked at a man who he had been told had died during the siege on the Black Thorne.

"I'll ask again, why are you here?" Wesley Wyndam-Pryce stood in front of his former colleagues, dressed in a brown duster, not dissimilar to Spike's leather coat in design. However this was made of fabric, not leather. He held in his hand a very decorative sword.

"Wesley, I thought you were dead?" Angel almost whispered the second part.

Wesley looked hard at Angel. "I am Angel, and I have been for a long time."

"Then how are you here?" Giles stepped forward to address the man who had once replaced him as Buffy's watcher.

"Ironic really," Wesley started as if he hadn't heard Giles. "I'm not clean enough to gain entry to heaven, and I'm not dirty enough to go to hell. So I'm here. Purgatory..."

"Purgatory?" Connor asked out loud.

"It means I continue to exist in this plain while I attempt to atone," Wesley looked at the young man he had once kidnapped. One of the many reasons for his appointment to purgatory. "Not unlike your father."

"So you're the keeper of the well?" Buffy asked.

Wesley nodded. "I was transported here as soon as I agreed."

"So your body isn't in L.A. anymore?" Angel asked.

"No, its right here," Wesley replied lifting up his shirt, revealing a stab wound which had killed him earlier that week. "Death is quite amusing really. It's kind of like when have to give a speech. It's not quite as bad as you imagined it would be."

"I thought purgatory was in a different plain?" Giles asked. "All the books I've ever read have said so..."

"I chose this," Wesley muttered.

Angel looked up. "Why, Wes?"

Wesley turned to face his former employer. "Fred,"

Angel looked at the ex-watcher. "What about her?"

"My soul was unclean, impure. But the main reason for the cloud over me was Fred's death. Her soul was destroyed when Illyria took her body. They gave me the chance to save her. If I served my purgatory in this dimension they would re-create her soul, as it was before death. Give her some peace."

"Who are 'they'?" Buffy asked.

"The powers that be? Deities? Take your pick. Whoever or whatever they were they were telling the truth. They can save Fred, and let her have the peace she needs,"

"How do you know they can Wes?" Angel asked.

"These aren't tricksters Angel. If you had spoken to them you would know. They have the power."

There was silence.

Buffy moved forward. "Wesley, I'm sorry..."

"Only person here to blame is myself," Wesley re-assured her. "But I do need to know why you are here?"

Angel cleared his throat. "Don't you know? The apocalypse?"

"Yes, I know, but that's not an answer to my question."

"We were told the new guardian would test me, Connor and Buffy. That you would tell us how to stop it..." Angel could see the lack of knowledge in Wesley's eyes. "And you have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"

* * *

_Rome, Italy._

The dragon came at Willow again.

And again she dodged the attack.

As it turned in mid air again to come around it was greater by chill.

Willow had released some kind of energy at the creature.

It began to ice over.

As the dragon froze it's wings ceased to work, and the beast fell towards the ground.

"That wasn't hard," Willow puffed, completely out of breath.

* * *

_The Deeper Well, England._

"I can't do anything about the apocalypse Angel, that's not my responsibility. The only person who can stop this now is you, or Spike," Wesley tried to explain.

"But the Immortal told us. He said that Connor was responsible for it all. He had made the human race, impure I guess," Buffy tried to explain.

Connor looked at her. "Its cos of me?"

Angel put a hand on his son's shoulder. "We'll stop it, don't worry."

"And that is true, it is his fault that Draven could gain freedom from his prison and begin the process of returning the world to the old ones," Wesley admitted. "But Connor can't do anything to change that. None of us can. Only you."

"Or Spike," Giles added.

"Or Spike." Wesley confirmed.

"But he's dead." Connor chipped in.

"Then it's Angel." Wesley finished.

"And how is this?" Giles asked his friend, cleaning his glasses at the same time.

"Connor created an impurity in humanity. He's the son of two pure vampires." Wesley re-told them. "If the vampire with a soul redeems himself in the eyes of the powers, that impurity is reversed; a pure vampire returns to being human."

"So you're saying I have to prove myself to the powers," Angel muttered to himself. "Well how do I do that?"

"I don't know." Wesley told him quite bluntly. "I know how Draven's plan works, but not how too stop it. I'm not sure you can."

"And how can it be me?" Angel asked. "I signed away my prophecie..."

"What?" Wesley looked almost horrified.

Buffy interupted Wesley's train of thought.

"What I don't understand in all of this, is why would the Immortal tell us we have to come here if we didn't have to..." Buffy mouthed the word unless, but no sound came out.

"Unless he's got something planned." Angel finished for her.

"What do you mean? What something?" Buffy asked, defending her lover.

"I don't know Buffy I'm not him, but there has gotta be some reason for it."

"This is great Angel, it's the Apocalypse and you decide to get jealous eyes for my boyfriend!"

"That's not it Buffy. I don't want you like that. I moved on, same as you. I'm just saying it doesn't make sense to lie to us, during the Apocalypse if he didn't want us outta the way!"

Buffy was silent.

"The Immortal..." Wesley murmured. "You don't mean The Immortal of Dra'gba?"

Buffy looked up. "No one ever says his second name..."

Angel looked at Wesley. "I didn't even know it."

Wesley's eyes widened. "You stupid girl!"

"HEY!" Buffy stood up, angry at Wesley's tone.

"Do you have any idea what you have done?" the guardian asked her. "He is the worst of all earthly evil. He massacred millions in order to attain his immortality. He has sort to rule this world for millennia, and you have been sleeping with him?"

"I said all this before," Angel muttered. Connor elbowed him in the ribs.

"If he has something planned Angel, you can guarantee it isn't good. You have to go!" Wesley was panicked.

"Wes..."

"So little time, so much to do," Wesley started talking to himself. "And i hate other dimensions..."

"Wes?" Angel and Buffy said almost in unison.

"If it's to be undone i have to restore him, have to change the unchangable..."

"Wesley!" Giles snapped.

Wesley looked up.

"GO NOW!" Wesley yelled. A flash of light surrounded the four and the disappeared.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. i loved writing it. only took me five days!! lol. any way give me reviews, cos i have to know if you guys liked it :)**


	11. Repercussions

**Hey. Thank you so much for the positive reviews for chapter ten. i thought it would be good, but i just prayed it would be for you guys. looks like it was. not sure if this'll be able to match it, but i'll give it a go. i had to change the rating cos of this chapter. only four more chapters till the new story. i can't wait. that WILL be good. i have no doubts. as always i welcome reviews. i need to know what i'm doing right and wrong. and hopefully there aren't any spelling mistakes. but there probably are. lol. enjoy. peace out.**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Repercussions **

_L.A., United States_  
  
Angel looked around at his new surroundings.

He was disorientated.

Moments before he had seen one of his friends, who he had thought was dead, send a wave of white light at him.

Now he was standing in what appeared to be the Hyperion's lobby.

Only not how they had left it.

Buffy looked at her girls, sprawled on the floor, blood over them. She rushed to the nearest, checking she was still alive.

"She o.k.?" Connor asked looking over her shoulder.

"Does she look o.k.?" Buffy replied sternly as she tried to check the rest of the slayers.

Giles was already kneeling over Xander, checking his vitals.

Angel looked up at the ceiling, and the new hole it had through it.

Then he caught it in the air.

A smell.

Illyria.

"Oh god," Angel muttered as he sprinted to the old office.

Connor followed his father into the office. "What is it?" he asked.

Then he saw. "Oh god..."

Illyria lay on the floor, arms broken backwards, over the joints. Blood poured from her face.

* * *

Giles had moved Xander so he was upright against the desk. 

"Xander, are you ok?" the ex-librarian asked. "Can you hear me?"

Xander's eyes fluttered. "...Faith..." He muttered.

"What about her?" Giles asked.

"...u..up..there..." And Xander fainted.

Giles looked up to the ceiling and saw the hole.

"My lord..."

Buffy looked up. "Giles can you deal with this while I check on her?"

Giles continued to stare at the chaos and death around him, ignoring the slayer.

"Giles!" Buffy snapped, trying to get his attention.

"What?" the English man replied. "Oh, yes... go."

Buffy took up the stairs.

* * *

The halls were a mess, with rubbish everywhere. 

Slayers lay on the floor, unconscious for the most part, some however were just bleeding all over the place.

Buffy couldn't stop for them now. She wanted to stop and cradle them, but she couldn't.

Spike had told her once there are always casualties in war.

This was one of the times she wished he was wrong.

As she turned the corner of the hall she could see into the room where Faith was. There was blood over all the walls, well all the walls she could see from this distance.

As she got closer she hoped this wasn't real.

A dream.

A nightmare.

Anything other than reality.

Buffy increased pace into a sprint as she approached the room.

She tried to open the door more, so she could get through, but it was stuck.

Buffy punched the door, breaking it clean off its hinges.

She wanted to be sick.

Faith lay on the floor barely able to move, sobbing.

Blood was all over her, as if she had been bathed in it.

Buffy was in shock.

She had never seen Faith cry.

Never seen her weak.

She looked over to where Faith was staring.

The bathroom.

Buffy walked past the slayer, and towards the bathroom.

As she pushed the door open it was too much.

She was sick.

As she fell to her knees, she tried to steady herself.

She looked up and couldn't believe what she was looking at.

Robin Wood.

Pinned to the wall.

Crucified.

* * *

_Rome, Italy._

Willow lowered herself from the sky.

She was exausted.

She had never fought a dragon before.

And she prayed she wouldn't have to again.

She lowered herself into the apartment, through the hole the dragon had made when it released its fire at her.

She walked over to Wilkins, who was now awake.

"Wilkins," Willow wanted his attention. "Where is Kennedy? The other slayers, Dawn?!"

Wilkins looked up at her. "I'm all that's left. He took the kid."

"What do you mean 'all that's left'?" Willow asked, with a stern tone, "There were the slayers we left behind, plus all your men. They can't all be dead?"

Wilkins nodded. "They are..." he started to go wide eyed, sobbing.

"Snap out of it!" Willow ordered. The man looked up. "What attacked you?"

"An army," Wilkins started to laugh. "A army of demons..."

Willow slapped the man across the face. "But you're in a army. How can they have taken all of you out? And if they did, why are you still here?"

Wilkins had stopped laughing. "I was bate,"

Willows eyes widened. "For who?"

"You," Wilkins answered. "I didn't hear much, but they thought you were a threat to their plans..."

"Who's they?" Willow asked. "And how do you even know who I am? I never told you,"

"With power like that, you have to be the witch. I don't know who they were. They wanted the girl, and then they wanted you out of the picture."

"Dawnie..." Willow muttered.

She went silent as she thought to her self. Willow wondered why they would want the sister of the slayer. She was just a kid, just a girl.

"This doesn't make any sense?" Willow suddenly burst into life. "We defeated the army in L.A. relatively easily, so why couldn't you have at least held this one at bay..."

It suddenly dawned on Willow why.

"Unless our fight was a distraction..." As Willow muttered these words, a cloaked figure, holding a scyth walked up behind her, as silent as _death_...

* * *

_L.A., United States._

"What do you want with me?" Dawn asked her captor.

Draven looked back at his prisoner. "You're the key to my plan, if you'll excuse the pun..." Draven smiled at his own joke.

"But I don't work any more." Dawn tried to explain.

Draven laughed at this remark. "You don't work anymore?" Dawn nodded. "You are incredibly ignorant of what you are aren't you?"

Dawn just stared at Draven.

"You are a key which unlocks dimensional walls. You tear down the barriers of every world. Do you really think that power just disappeared along with Glory?" Draven asked her.

Dawn looked at the demon. "You know about Glory?"

"Know about her?" Draven exclaimed. "Of course I know about her, I know about everything that has gone on concerning you my dear."

"Why?"

"Because you are the key!" Snapped Draven. "Kids today really have no attention spans. In my day a child listened to their demon masters, and if they didn't I ate them," Draven smiled wickedly as he said the last part.

Dawn just looked on.

"Fine, you are the key, a energy device which unlocks dimensional walls. This you know." Draven stated. "However you only do that when someone unskilled, such as Glory uses you. When you're creator uses you that's a different matter."

Dawn went wide eyed.

Draven smiled. "Hello my daughter!" He opened his arms in a welcoming fashion. "But enough with the humour, I made you. You are my creation. And I must say the monks made you into a pretty little girl. I swear, if it weren't for the dire need of the apocalypse, I could rape and devour you." Draven smiled as he said the last part.

As if it was affectionate.

Dawn's look turned to horror.

She wanted Buffy to come swinging in to the rescue.

She wanted to scream.

* * *

Blood was everywhere. 

It ran all the way from the bathroom to Faith.

Buffy didn't know what had happened but she knew she wouldn't get any answers from her fellow Slayer.

Some thing had happened to her.

Something horrific.

"ANGEL!" Buffy yelled.

Downstairs, visible through the hole, the vampire looked up. "What is it Buffy?" he yelled back.

"Get up here!" Buffy called down. "NOW!"

"We're a little busy down here Buffy, I gotta help everyone else..."

"NOW" Buffy repeated her self.

* * *

Angel saw Faith and ran to her. 

He cradled her.

It was instinctive.

Not sexual, fatherly.

Angel held her, as a father would a child.

He didn't know what had happened, he hadn't even seen Wood's body, but he saw Faith.

And he saw her pain.

And he held her while Buffy came out of the bathroom.

"What happened?" Angel asked Buffy as he brushed Faith's blood drenched hair out of her eyes.

Buffy was silent. "Something killed Wood." She murmered.

Angel stared at her. "Not something Buffy. Someone."

Buffy looked up at Angel.

"The Immortal." He told her coldly.

"We don't know it was..." Buffy tried to defend.

"Don't you dare Buffy!" Angel stopped her. "I know you don't know what to think. I know you loved him, or near as damn felt for him. But look at Faith. And go look at Wood's body. No one good could do that."

"You have." Buffy replied coldly.

"I'll forget you said that. I'll let it slide. You're hurt. You're scarred." Angel said through gritted teeth. "Take Faith downstairs. Clean her up."

Buffy carefully took Faith's arm and helped her downstairs.

Angel walked into the bathroom and starred hard at Wood's corpse.

It was sick.

It was wrong.

And it disgusted Angel.

He slowly unpinned the limbs of Robin Wood. As he did so he remembered what it was like to do this to someone.

France.

Paris.

He had killed a prostitute like this.

Angel sighed.

He had done things like this.

Even if he couldn't admit it.

* * *

Xander was in agony. 

It was worse than when he had his eye punctured out by a psychotic preacher.

He didn't think that was possible.

But it was.

He couldn't feel his legs. He couldn't feel his entire body.

It hurt to talk, and when he did he could barely make any of the words sound right.

Giles knew what was wrong but wouldn't tell him.

Probably thought it would upset him.

It probably would, but it was worse not knowing.

* * *

Angel and Connor had moved Illyria up stairs. 

Angel was dealing with what ever Buffy had asked him to, while Connor looked after the demon queen.

The young man dabbed her brow. He wasn't sure if it would help or not.

The body was someone he remembered, in a hazy dream sort of way, and it was dead.

He wasn't sure if Illyria herself would feel pain.

She only inhabited the body. It wasn't actually hers.

He hated that part of his life. He was relatively new to the strange world of demons and things.

Well, he was if you didn't count his previous life.

Things were amazingly confused in the world.

Far too condensed for Connor's liking.

But then again that was life.

And the kid shrugged and went back to bathing her wounds.

* * *

Faith stared at Buffy as the slayer bathed the blood off of her with a warm towel. 

"I'm sorry," Faith whispered.

Buffy looked up. "What?"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't protect them..." Faith felt her eyes start to well up. "I'm sorry I let him die..."

She began to sob.

Buffy held Faith's hand. "This isn't your fault. It's mine."

"But I should have protected them, I was the leader and I failed. And the one thing I had in my life that was real got ripped from me. Torn out." Faith told Buffy through sobs.

Buffy looked at Faith and winced.

She was what Buffy could be have been without the training, the friends.

She was her equal and opposite.

And she was the strongest person she had ever known.

Yet she was crying.

And it was because of her.

It was because she allowed a murderer to become her lover for the third time in recent years.

Buffy pulled Faith close to her and held her as she cried.

She would stop this.

* * *

Riley was outside the hotel. 

He had finally found it.

His guts were near falling out, but he had found it.

He crawled to the door, and pushed it open.

He fell through the archway, and down the stairs landing next to a slayer.

As he looked around he realised that this place wasn't in much better shape than he was.

He looked at the girl next to him and didn't recognise her.

He fainted soon after.

* * *

_The Deeper Well, England_

Wesley stood over his hole. His new responsibility.

"I need you to do me a favour..." He muttered to himself.

"I need you to release him. To free him," His voice was strained.

"You'll do it. For what we had, or for the sake of the world. Or just to proove you're not as dead as you appear to be." Wesley adressed the shadows.

A figure stepped out. "O.k. lover. I'll do it for us. But you owe me. And you know what I want." The women told him.

"Fine Lilah." Wesley adressed the ghost of his ex-lover. "We have a deal."

* * *

**Another reflective chapter. hope you enjoyed it. Please review :)**


	12. Repentance

**Hey every body!!! thanx for continueing to read this story.hopefully i can get this story finnished in the next week and then its on to story two. i will add the code for the next story at the end of the last chapter, so its easy to find for you guys :) 

* * *

**

**Chapter Twelve: Repentance**  
  
_Hell_  
  
A stake to the hearts, and an explosion of dust.

This was not the first time it had happened, nor would it be the last.

And every time the dust fell to the floor, a new fresh body was revealed.

Of course repeated death at the hands of a demon had no effect on the person in question.

"That it?" Spike spat. "You could at least be original, I mean come on, we've been doing this for four hundred years, and all you do is repeatedly kill me?"

The demon was cutting out a new stake.

Spike stayed chained from the ceiling. "Where's the eternal hell. I mean you could have shown me my worst fears repeatedly, or have me kill people again, or anything better than BLOODY KILLING ME AGAIN AND AGAIN!"

Spike yelled the last part as a wave of flame screeched across his back, turning it to ash.

The new flesh quickly revealed itself, blistered and burnt.

The demon smiled at this.

"Think its funny do you?" Asked Spike, a slightly pissed off tone.

The demon ignored him and carried on carving the new stake.

Spike looked at his hell. A small dank cave, not unlike the one he earned his soul in.

The demon guard who continually killed him finished the look perfectly.

Spike had named him Sparky.

The vampire looked down at the floor, whispered a prayer under his breath.

It was amazing to Spike that he had only found any sort of faith after two hundred years in hell. He didn't believe in God particularly. How could he when he was a vampire? But he had faith that there was a reason for everything. It had only taken him the first two hundred years of his hell to achieve this.

"You don't want to waste your breath talking to him," a voice whispered.

Spike opened his eyes.

He couldn't see anyone.

The demon stood up and approached the vampire.

Spike wondered if this was some new kind of torture, as he had been asking for.

"Don't worry William, I'm real. You haven't lost your mind again." The voice told him.

Spike went to open his mouth.

"Shhh," The voice commanded him. "Don't worry your pretty little blonde head. Let's just say, well how can I put this, you got a reprieve..."

Spike felt energy start to well inside him.

The demon walked up to him, and pulled back his arm.

He released his arm and buried the stake in Spike's heart

He screamed as the energy reached boiling point.

The pain from the stake mixed with this new sensation, and he felt himself turn to dust again.

* * *

_L.A., United State, Three Days Ago_

The Immortal looked at Lindsey.

"Spawn of Draven are you?"

Illyria cocked her head. The Immortal knew more than he was telling.

Lindsey looked up. "Don't say that name."

The decomposing one also had knowledge.

The Immortal took a slight smile at that statement.

"What are you talking about?" Illyria asked the Immortal over her shoulder.

There was no answer.

Just pain as her arms were wrenched back on themselves.

Illyria could see the shock on her face in Lindsey's eyes.

She didn't like surprises.

"What the hell?" A voice shouted from outside.

It was Faith.

As Illyria hit the floor her head was facing the doorway, letting her see exactly what was happening.

Faith charged down the man, the one known as Wood behind her.

The Immortal ducked the first blow, upper cutted Wood, spun on his heel and punched Faith straight up and through the ceiling. Grabbing Wood, he disappeared out of sight, leaving Illyria only with the screams of slayers for any information on what was happening.

* * *

A shudder and she was back.

Out of her memories.

The shell was certainly having an effect on Illyria, there was no doubt.

First her, for lack of a better word, love of Wesley, followed by her attraction to the being known as Giles. Her awe at the site of slayers for the first time, and finally now her compassion for the dead.

Something had changed in Illyria, and she did not like it.

* * *

Angel watched as she turned her head away from the ceiling.

Angel wasn't sure why, but she was smelling less and less like Illyria.

She was smelling more human.

He narrowed his eyes, staring hard at the demon who had possessed his friends body.

He had hated her for taking Fred's body, but recently he had come to accept her.

He didn't know what this meant.

He was sure that it wouldn't make him look the hero to the powers that be. He sighed. It was too much. To expect him alone to save the world. But it was the way the game was playing out, and he would have to deal with it.

* * *

Buffy stood over the twin beds.

On one was her former enemy, now ally Faith, on the other Riley, her former lover.

The only one in recent years who wasn't a mass murderer.

Although there was still time, Buffy thought to herself.

Giles had found him, wounded among a pile of injured slayers.

With him on his own and in this condition, it didn't fill Buffy with confidence.

It looked like something had gotten to him. Buffy didn't relish that idea.

She turned her head to look at Faith.

She was broken, bruised and upset didn't begin to cover her feelings. Devastated was the nearest word that matched her situation, and even that was way off.

Buffy turned from the beds and walked out of the room.

* * *

Xander laid on a single bed in the next room.

After a few painful hours he had fallen asleep, and had been drifting between being awake and unconsciousness ever since.

Buffy looked in on him, with Giles standing outside the doorway, where he had been since they had moved Xander.

Buffy was sure he hadn't slept in the last three days.

"How is he Giles?" Buffy asked the ex-librarian.

Giles carried on looking at the young man and replied, "As well as a man with a broken spine can be..."

Buffy shuddered.

Her friend of eight years was laying on a bed with a broken back, unable to move.

They couldn't take him to a hospital, as the vampires had imeadiatly set up base in the hospitals, feeding off of the weak.

"When Willow gets back she can-"

"IF Willow gets back Buffy," Giles snapped. "We haven't heard from her in all the time she's been away..."

"She's alive Giles, we have to believe that," Buffy stared at her former watcher, the man she thought of as her father.

"I'm having a lot of trouble believing anything at the moment Buffy," Giles took off his glasses and began cleaning them. "Wood is dead, Willow unheard from, Spike is dust, Wesley is a mystical guardian..."

"A demon queen is giving you the oogley eyes when ever she sees you" Buffy looked at Giles. "It never rains..." She told him, trying to break the tension.

Giles looked at his slayer. "You couldn't have known Buffy, The Immortal seemed to love you, even I believed it..."

"Don't say that, I can't deal with that..." Buffy started to well up. "And I have to deal at the moment, I'm their leader. I'm the slayer. I fight the apocalypse and I can't do that if I'm crying over dead bodies..."

Giles pulled her to him, embracing her as a father would his daughter. "You're also human Buffy, and can't be blamed for trusting a man we all did..."

"Xander didn't, Angel didn't, Spike either..." She sobbed, holding back the tears.

"Xander is always jealous of anyone who finds your heart, and Angel and Spike identified with him when they were evil; maybe we should have listened to them, but it was a mistake I made myself to dismiss it as jealousy," he kissed the young woman's forehead. "Go and talk with him, I'll go out and see if I can find any leads."

"Him?" She questioned as she looked up.

"Angel, I'm sure he didn't mean what he said, and if he did, you have to sort this out, because we can't stop the apocalypse if we're at each others throats..."

* * *

Angel watched Buffy as she walked into his Office.

She stood in front of him.

He could smell the tears she had shed recently.

He looked at his one time love.

She had cost him his soul.

She had sent him to hell.

"We need to talk," Buffy stated.

"Sure Buff, not in the middle of anything here..." Angel snapped back

"Why are you being so defensive?" Buffy asked, in a angry tone.

"Call me crazy, but I don't like being accused of murder,"

"Call me crazy but you did murder people..."

"That was Angelus." Angel was angry, to say the least.

"It was your body, you hands that performed the act," Buffy said coldly. "I didn't come here to argue. I came here to apologise. When I said that I was being defensive, you can understand that right?"

"Understand what?" Angel asked.

"The shock of learning your lover is a killer."

"THIS is your apology?!" Angel snapped.

Buffy looked at Angel. "It was meant to be, but you started being all defensive..."

"Look," Angel stopped. "Buffy, we have to stop this. There's an Apocalypse going on. We have to fight it. And I need to know two things,"

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Can you kill him if you have to?"

"Killed you." Buffy replied, straight faced.

"Do you love me?" Angel looked at her with the same eyes he done all those years ago. "Cos I can't deal with this uncertainty. You're cookie dough, that's great. But I need an answer. We could be about to die, and I need to know if the woman I love has any feelings for me..."

There was silence. Buffy looked at Angel, while Angel stared back.

"That's what I thought," Angel smirked. He walked past Buffy and out of the door. "We fight as soon as everyone is able, then if we survive I'm leaving. I mean really."

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"As far away as humanly possible," Angel looked at her. "I just can't deal with this anymore..."

As he walked away Buffy felt a small tug of her heart screaming to call out to him, as it always did.

But she didn't. And the vampire headed up the stairs to the first floor of the hotel, and out of Buffy's heart.  
  
_

* * *

_

_The Deeper Well, England_

Wesley walked back and forth.

A flash of light went off in front of him.

Lilah stood there.

"Well?" Lilah asked.

"It's done," Wesley told her. "And what you promised?"

"Also done," She smiled. "We always did make a good team Wes."

"No, you manipulated me into doing whatever you wanted me too," Wesley replied, with a deadpan look on his face.

"Sure, but isn't that what all relationships are?" She retorted. "People blackmailing each other into doing their bidding in the promiss of the fact that they are loved"

"I care for you Lilah, but I pity you as well, if that's what you truly think..."

"Save it lover, I don't have time for this. See, if I'm gone for too long they'll start to wonder what I'm up to, and I can't have that now can I?" Lilah winked.

Wesley didn't answer. He knew what he had done would cost him in his redemption.

"How long?" The ex-watcher asked.

"About..." Lilah looked at her watch. "Now."

And she disappeared.

As she did, a very naked man appeared in front of Wesley, laying on the floor.

"Spike..." he muttered.

* * *

**OK, so Spikes back like everyone wanted, although he always was going to come back like this. :). hopefully it was a different way for him to come back than how you expected, cos i do like surprising people. review please, and let me know what you thought about this latest chapter :D**


	13. Plans Revealed

**

* * *

hey. sorry for the huge gap in updates. i haf some family problems. but heres a rather short chapter thirteen, but chapter fourteen and fifteen are nearly done so they WILL be up by the end of the week. hope you enjoy the chapter. rock on**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirteen: Plans Revealed**

_The Deeper Well, England_

"Stay calm Spike, you've only just returned to this world," Wesley was holding Spike back with a energy shield, one of his new powers granted as keeper of the well.

Spike was nude, with small scars all over him. He was vamped out, trying to get at Wesley.

The reason he had in hell had deserted him.

He wanted to rip open Wesley's throat and drink.

Of course he didn't know it was Wesley.

He had been in hell for what had seemed like four hundred years.

Whilst there, he had no hunger, but now it had caught up to him. Like the mother of all hangovers.

"This is no good..." muttered the ex-watcher under his breath.

He raised his hands, releasing a wave of energy at Spike, knocking him out.

"He won't be of any use to me now," Wesley murmured. "What will I do now?"

A figure appeared in front of the well's guardian.

"You know what to do, I've told you a million times," The figure was an exact copy of him, only dressed as he had when he first came to Sunnydale.

"No, but you're not real," Wesley muttered, looking at the ground. "Can't be, not a real boy..." Wesley paused, looked up and snapped. "You're a figment!"

The other Wesley rolled his eyes. "You're impossible. Since Fred died, you've been slipping further into insanity. I can't believe you kept it together when your friends were here,"

Wesley looked up, almost recognising what he was looking at. "You..."

But as soon as the clarity was there, it faded again. "What do we do?"

The other Wesley looked at the crumbling man. He was a shadow of his former self.

"I told you what the Immortal is planning, and you have to let it happen," The fake Wesley paused. "Because we can defeat him, but not Draven."

Wesley regained his clarity. "I remember."

"Good," The other smiled as he said this.

* * *

_L.A., United States_

Buffy, Angel and Giles all stood in Faith and Riley's room.

"We need to think of something," Buffy announced. "We have to stop this Draven character before he does whatever it is he is planning."

Angel looked at the slayer. Even though she had rejected him, he still loved her.

"Not to be Mr tall, dark and negative, but how Buffy?" Angel asked.

"I don't know. We need Willow here." Buffy paused.

"What is it Buffy?" Giles asked.

Buffy looked into space the way she sometimes did, before focussing back on Giles. "Wesley," She muttered.

"What about him?" Riley asked. "Wait, who's Wesley?"

"Ex-watcher, now he's a mystical guardian." Angel told him, not taking his eyes off Buffy.

"And the weird keeps coming..." Riley murmured.

"He said 'I have to bring him back'. What did he mean?" Buffy asked.

"He was insane, probably didn't know what he meant."

Everyone turned to the door. Connor was standing there.

"What are you doing here?" Angel asked.

"You take me to another country, tell me I'm something to do with the apocalypse and then tell me I'm not. I want to help."

Angel looked at his son. "No."

"You can't call me in when you want, and then send me away just as quick. This isn't your game anymore, dad," Connor almost spat the last word. "I'm staying."

"We don't have time for this," Giles interrupted. "Angel, let the boy stay. There's a very real possibility we won't live out the week anyway. Let him be with his father."

Angel looked at Giles. "Fine," he said turning back to face Connor. "But no dying"

Connor smirked.

Angel didn't. Angel meant the last part. It wasn't a joke.

Buffy looked between the two. "Back to the issue at hand."

Everyone looked at Buffy. "How do we stop Draven?"

The gathered faces looked between each other. No one answered.

Buffy frowned. "Where's a witch when you need one?"

_

* * *

_

_Rome, Italy_

Willow looked at the floor.

Two bodies.

One was hers.

This was confusing her on so many levels.

One moment she had been talking to Wilkins, the next a sharp blow to her neck.

There was no indication of what had done this to her, but Willow was pissed none the less.

Wilkins body lay next to hers. Whatever had got her had taken out him at the same time.

Willow looked around.

Nothing was there. She didn't know much more than when she had arrived. Only that Dawn had been taken, and that Kennedy was still missing. And that someone wanted her out of the picture.

And they had done it.

She was dead.

Well sort of.

She was still here. Willow knew this was wrong. That she should be gone. In heaven or hell, or anywhere that wasn't here.

But somehow, for somereason she was still there. And she was going to use this to her advantage.

_

* * *

_

_L.A., United States_

Lindsey was confused as to what had happened in the last few days. He had died, he had come back, and now he was being held captive by some madman who apparently was working with Angel and his gang.

He was chained to a wall, in some factory or warehouse.

Lindsey didn't really know or care. To say Lindsey was confused was actually an understatement.

"Why did you take me?" the ex-lawyer asked.

The Immortal turned to face him. "You're the key Spawn of Draven," The Immortal paused. "Well not THE key, but you are a major factor."

"I don't understand..." Lindsay retorted, feeling more lost in this convoluted state of affairs.

The Immortal sighed. "I don't need you to understand, because within the next hour or so you'll be brain dead any way. Just a zombie, a shadow of the man you were,"

Shock and fear merged into one and grabbed Lindsey's face.

"But be assured you will be rewarded for your sacrifice," The Immortal smiled.

* * *

Draven looked at the rubble of Wolfram and Hart.

It was to be the site of his apocalypse.

In all the years he had been sealed under the Hollywood hills he had dreamed of this moment.

It was actually refreshing not to be able to fail.

He smiled.

He raised his hands and from beneath the rubble raised a tower.

Draven waited for the tower to stop moving and flew himself up to the top. Waiting for him was a bound and gagged Dawn. He smiled.

"Nearly show time now deary," he licked his lips. "It's gonna be a heart breaker..."

Dawn's eyes went wide.

"You want me to explain how this works?" Draven asked Dawn.

Dawn could do nothing but try and scream through her gag.

"Excellent. As you wish," Draven smirked. "You see, as we all know you are the Key. And I am the key maker. As your creator I can use you in a way no one dare imagine. I can re-shape the world with you. I can make it the place it was."

Dawn looked at Draven, fear trembling through her body.

"I'm afraid that when I use you however, it will be quite excruciating. I'm not anatomically equipped to interface with humans," He let his mouth curl up into a smile.

Tears rolled down Dawn's cheek.

"I'm explaining this too you for two reasons," Draven continued, ignoring her tears. "See, one is that I just plain prefer you scared."

Dawn sobbed again, much to Draven's delight.

"The second is that I want the slayer here, so I can break her neck before I destroy this world. Her and that Vampire with a soul..."

Dawn looked up, still trembling, but also confused now.

"The witch is here," Draven spat the word witch.

Dawn looked around, trying to see Willow. Praying to see Willow.

"You can't see her. She's a ghost." Draven smiled, turning to Willow.

"Isn't that right Miss Rosenberg?"

Willow stood, for lack of a better word, in front of Draven.

"I was impressed with the speed you displayed in getting here, I have to say, I was most im-"

"If you hurt her I'll-"

"You'll what? Float in front of me?" Draven looked at Willow, a twinkle in his eye. "No, you and I both know all you can do is bring the slayer here to try and stop me,"

Willow's face filled with anger.

"Now, off you go, like a good little human," Draven waved the witch off. "Oh, dreadfully sorry, ex-human,"

And with that a flash of light struck Willow, sending her all the way back to the Hyperion.

* * *

**And thats chapter thirteen. hope you enjoyed it. i'm sorting out all the things for the remaining chapters and the next story. hopefully you enjoyed it. again sorry for the length of time it took for me to update.**


	14. On The Eve Of Ragnarok

Hi everyone!! it won't let me bold certain sections for some reason today :S so sorry if splits get muddled. i'll fix it soon as. read and review guys, and read the foot notes for an explanation of why it took so long...

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: On The Eve Of Ragnarok

* * *

Willow was standing in the lobby of the Hyperion.

She had no idea how she had gotten there. Well she knew the cause, but not the specifics.

Draven had sent her. To tell Buffy. To lure her into a trap. Willow frowned. She hated when the bad guys had them in catch 22 situations. But it always seemed to happen.

Giles walked past the witch as he came from the upstairs area if the hotel. He walked into Angels office, picked up a book and walked back again past Willow.

"Giles?" Willow asked, not understanding why Giles hadn't seen her, praying to god she wasn't invisible.

Giles turned. "Willow?!" He had shock in his voice. "When did you get back?"

Willow motioned her hands through the banister of the Hyperion.

"That's not good." Giles stated, forgetting his previous question.

"Kinda not so much," Willow agreed.

* * *

Buffy looked at Willow in disbelief. "This can't be happening..." She muttered.

Angel looked over to Buffy. "It is Buff. How do we deal with this?"

"Well we don't go," Riley interrupted.

Angel looked at the injured man. "Don't butt in Captain Cardboard."

"The hell I don't!" Riley was somewhat annoyed. "I may not be part of the superhero group, but I've been up against this guy. He wiped out my ENTIRE company. We can't fight him..."

"And I can't leave Dawn with him." Buffy turned to face Riley. "I'm going Riley. I want you with me, but it's your call."

Riley looked hard at Buffy. "Fine." He told her coldly.

Connor looked up. "Ok, we're gonna take on the baddest evil we know of, and I'm fine with that, but how are we gonna do it?"

Buffy looked up at Connor. "The only way we know how,"

* * *

Angel stood in the room that was once his office.  
  
He looked around. It wasn't how he had left it nearly a year ago.  
  
It felt older, barren. He moved round the desk, so that he was standing next to his old chair.  
  
He wheeled it back, off the mat it was positioned on.  
  
With it out of the way, Angel kneeled down and picked up the rug, revealing a door. Angel opened the door and pulled out a sword.  
  
He removed the sheath and placed it on the table.  
  
The sword itself was a single-handed broadsword. Its hilt was covered in jewels, and shined golden. The blade itself was layered with several runes.  
  
Angel picked up the sword and made a cutting motion, swiping the sword down and into the corner of the desk, cleanly slicing the corner off.  
  
Angel smiled. The vampire placed the sword in its sheath and laid it on the table.

* * *

Riley was bandaged up, pain flowing through his body.  
  
There was no-way he should be going up against Draven. There was no way any of them should even try.  
  
It was plain suicide.  
  
But that was always part of Buffy's plans.  
  
Thankfully they had all not gone according to plan.  
  
Riley picked up a shotgun that Angel had given him. It had apparently belonged to the Wesley guy. He checked the barrel and the aim. For a watcher, this guy had taste.

* * *

Giles pulled a spear out of the weapons cabinet.  
  
It had been hidden behind the array of swords. Giles checked the spear for any signs of bend. It showed none.  
  
He clenched the weapon and placed it in a sling attached to his back.  
  
As he turned to look into the weapons cabinet, he met the hard lips of Illyria. She pressed into him with a deep kiss. Giles stood in shock for a few seconds before pulling back.

"What? Why? Huh?" Giles, flustered, spouted out of his mouth.

Illyria cocked her head. "I wished to feel this before your destruction," She frankly told the ex-watcher.

Giles stumbled backwards, falling over his half packed bag of weapons.

"Feel what?" he weakly asked, staring up at her from the floor.

"A spark..." She weakly replied.

* * *

The Deeper Well, England

Where had the spark gone? It was the only thing running through Spike's mind. That, and his need to kill the man standing in front of him. He didn't understand how the air was holding him back.

Wesley understood, looking back at the vampire. He knew what was needed. He knew when he had taken it from the vampire. He looked at his hand. He was holding a small, thin vile, with a blinding light inside it.

"It's not for long..." He told the mindless vampire, with a hint of compassion in his voice. "Promise"

He stood up suddenly, violently. "Promise's, promise's, no one ever keeps their promise's. Should have been a real boy, should have been sleeping, shoulda, coulda woulda..."

Wesley turned to the shadows. "She won't be pleased when she finds out..."

Looking back at Spike, Wesley snarled. "Filthy creature, dirty creature, that's what you were. I made you pure again, I made you how you should be..." He looked back to the vile. "A monster..."

Wesley burst into fits of tears, falling to the ground, hands to his face.

"I'm the monster!" He yelled, "AND IT'S YOUR FAULT!!!"

The other Wesley walked from behind the shadows.

"Of course it is," He smiled, removing his glasses from his face and cleaning them. "This is all I seem to do anymore..."

Wesley looked on at his double, confusion in his eyes.

The other Wesley rolled his eyes and replaced his glasses. "Drive people mad I mean. Both my protégés in the same dank cave. Who would have thought it?"

"What happens when she finds out?" Wesley asked his double.

"The plan will be done, and she won't even remember the double cross," The double smiled.

Wesley continued to sob as the double walked past him and towards Spike. "I've got big plans for you again my sweet..."

Spike looked up. Even driven mad with this insane blood lust, he would recognise her. Drusilla...

* * *

L.A., United States

Angel walked into one of the hotel's rooms. Connor was staring out of the window and into the night.

"Good view?" the vampire asked his son.

Connor span quickly, then returned to his view. "It's ok. It just seems so calm. Considering what we're about to do it should be more..."

"I know Connor." Angel replied as he placed his hand on his son's shoulder.

Connor looked at his father. In a moment they said their goodbyes, should one of them die and the usual things people say when they were going into what seemed like certain death. Only they said it with their eyes.

Not a word was spoken, but it was the most in depth conversation either would have.

"I got you a present," Angel finally broke the silence.

"Really?" Connor asked. "What is it?"

"It's in my office," Angel told his child.

Connor ran out of the room and down the stairs.

"It's not a x-box or anything!" Angel yelled behind is son. The sound of his son saying 'cool' let him know Connor was pleased with his present.

* * *

Deep under the streets of L.A., Lilah Morgan was not best pleased. Not pleased at all. She had spent forever finding a necromancer. And just as she thought the hard part was done, this happened. Wesley had double-crossed her. Her Wesley.

"If I was corporeal I would so kick his ass!" Lilah ranted. She then remembered the times when she would actually kick his ass. For someone so prim and proper, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was a sucker for the kinky.

"I don't understand?" The demon standing next to her asked. You wished for a body to be placed in. he has provided it. Where is the problem?"

Lilah turned to her demon necromancer.

"Because, Frank, he was supposed to give the body of a first one. It was part of my plan. Instead he gives me this!" She pointed at the body as she yelled.

"You didn't actually think he would give you a old one did you?" Frank asked.

Lilah stared at him as he burst out laughing.

"No one would give you that!" He stopped laughing as he realised she was serious. "He probably saved you by doing that..."

"What do you mean??" Lilah asked.

"The old ones never truly leave their bodies," Frank began. "Unless they are totally obliterated, then they always remain hidden in their body. If a necromancer such as me were to put you into a body like that, the original personality would wipe you from existence."

Lilah pondered this. "The bastard."

* * *

Willow hovered next to Xander. She looked down on her friend.

"Hey Will," Xander muttered.

Willow smiled. "Hey Xander,"

"Look at us, you're a ghost and I'm crippled. Sucks to be us" Xander tried to joke.

Willow smiled. "We'll stop him. We'll fix this."

Xander looked at Willow. "You can't fix this Willow. Last time we 'fixed' something like this, we pulled Buffy out of heaven. We can't fix this..."

Willow's smile faded. She knew he was right, and she wished he wasn't. Neither spoke for a long time...

* * *

Buffy sat on the bed in the room she had claimed when they had arrived in the hotel.  
  
She looked at her feet.  
  
For someone so small they were unusually big. She stopped and wondered why she had only just noticed this.  
  
She remembered her last words with Spike. She sighed. He was a jerk. And she loved him. Well she thought she did. She wasn't sure anymore. She didn't even know if she could love.  
  
This was too confusing. It was too deep, and too pretentious. And it was SO the wrong time to be thinking about this stuff.  
  
A new plan formed in Buffy's mind; Kill this new bad, Draven, save world, and then morn Spike.  
  
Looking at her watch, she announced to herself "It's Time," and stood up.  
  
Buffy let out a sigh and looked at her feet. They were too big.

* * *

The Wolfram and Hart Ruins, L.A.,

Draven stood over Dawn. He looked at the frightened girl.

"Not long now my precious one, she'll be here soon, and then I can begin," Draven smiled as he said this.

"Already here big boy!" A yell came form behind the demon. He turned to see the Slayer, with her friends.

"Why, you have me outnumbered!" he feigned distress, "Whatever will I do..." his voice turned more sinister with the uttering of each word.

As he moved toward them he heard another voice.

"It's not them you should worry about Draven!"

The demon turned to see The Immortal.

"You?!" Draven was genuinely shocked, but by the Immortals stupidity more than anything. "What can you do?"

The Immortal let out a coy smile.

"I can do this..." he responded, lifting his left hand into the sky.

Draven looked on in curiosity.

Suddenly a wave of energy erupted around The Immortal and Dawn.

"No..." Draven muttered, "NOOOOOOO!"

"Sorry Draven, but looks like you can't get at Dawnie," The Immortal smiled as he finished the sentence. "But I can..."

Buffy, confused, and bewildered by what was going on looked towards where the Immortal had come from. The shadows.

Another figure emerged from the shadows after The Immortal.

"Lindsey..." Buffy muttered.

"Lindsey!" Angel's tone was more forceful.

"Lindsey," The last voice was more knowing, more accepting. The others turned to see the new player.

Wesley...

* * *

Hey everyone!! one last chapter and we're done on this story. then its time for part two :D been looking forward to this for ages. sorry for the wait, i know i said end of last week, but then my p.c. goes and corrupts the last two chapters as i'm finnishing them!! so this past week has been spent re-writing this chapter, and starting the next. i won't make any promisses as to wen the last one will be up, as i'll end up breaking it any ways. but i will say SOON. and don't be surprised if its by the end of this week. wink, wink, nudge nudge lol. oh, and if you guys who like this story could do me a favour?? could you take a look at my other fanfic, the funeral? it was my first one, and a couple of my readers who don't review have asked me to start it again, just so i can finnish it. its no-where near as epic as this one. its just a short story, but i never really finnished it... ah well. as per usual review me!! please!! lol. its really the ONLY way i'll learn. well until the final, peace out guys.  



	15. When The Clock Strikes Thirteen

_Previously in "the very last, probably, apocalypse"..._

_Angel attacked the earthly body of Wolfram and Hart by taking out the key members of a group known as the black thorn. His attempts however merely succeeded in annoying the senior partners. In retaliation they sent an army to deal with him, Spike, Gunn and Illyria._

_Before the army could destroy our heroes, a certain girl arrived to save the day with an army of her own. _

_The senior partners, realising the world was sufficiently corrupted, released Draven, the strongest of the old ones, to bring about the final apocalypse, the one where the world will return to the old ones control. _

_Draven released the creature known simply as Fear, a being created by the senior partners to destroy Angel if he moved against them. He then proceeded to create an embodiment of Death. _

_Angel had for the past five years been working towards fulfilling a prophecy which stated the vampire with a soul will earn a reward of becoming human again. _

Although Angel had signed his part in the prophecy away, Spike could still fulfil it. Knowing this Draven reanimated the corpse of his son, Lindsey Macdonald, to take care of the vampire.

_Lindsey attacked Connor and Spike After killing Spike, Lindsey was beaten by Connor. Connor captured Lindsey and took him back to his fathers._

_Connor met up with his family again, heading to The Deeper Well with Angel, Buffy and Giles. It was here they discovered that the Immortal, the man who Buffy had been dating for the past few months, was up to something of his own design._

_Back in L.A., The Immortal crucified Wood, injured most of the slayers, leaving a paralysed Xander, a badly hurt Faith and an injured Illyria in his wake. He took with him Lindsey, who was fast deteriorating. _

_While the gang geared up to fight Draven one last time, his plan became obvious to one person; Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, keeper of the Deeper Well. His plan was to use the Key, or Dawn Summers, as a means to restructure the world in such a way that the Old Ones could return. In response, Wesley made a deal with Lilah Morgan for the return of Spike. Clearly under the influence of something, Wesley removed Spike's "Spark" and double crossed Lilah._

_Willow, who had travelled to Rome in an attempt to find Dawn and Kennedy, found only her death in their place. Being Summoned to Draven as a ghost, Willow was forced to summon Buffy and Angel to Draven's Final victory over humanity. _

_As Draven was about to attack, The Immortal appeared, creating a barrier around himself, and Lindsey and Dawn, just as Wesley returns to the fold…_

**Chapter Fifteen: When The Bell Strikes Thirteen…**

"Wesley?" Angel asked, a little bewildered that his former friend was here.

Giles looked up to see the former watcher. "What's going on!" He yelled.

Wesley looked straight up to where the Immortal, Lindsey and Dawn were positioned.

The Immortal glared back at the new player. "I'll tell you what's going on," He yelled at the group. "I'm doing what I was meant to do, what I was born to do!"

Buffy looked up at the man who had once been her lover, and then quickly down to the demon she had come to fight.

Draven looked at her, and back at the Immortal. "What are you doing filth!" He had rage in his voice.

"Why, exactly what you were planning on doing;" The Immortal paused and looked at the ensemble. "I'm rebuilding the world, only my way!"

"You can't do that, and you know it," Draven was calm as he told him.

"Yes he can," Wesley interrupted.

Draven span, to address this new entrant to the game.

"He's got your spawn," Wesley looked to Angel. "His son, Lindsey…"

"Lindsey!" Angel was shocked. "But he told me about his father, he told me he was a normal man…"

"It's probable he didn't know Draven was his father," Wesley explained.

"It's definite!" Yelled Draven.

Angel looked at Wesley. "How can he 'rebuild' the world? I don't understand Wes,"

"Dawn is the key, that we already know." Wesley shouted to Angel.

Buffy looked up at her sister. "But she doesn't do anything any more, Glory-"

"Glory was trying to use the key, not for what it was intended, but for what she thought it was for." Wesley yelled at her before she could finish.

"So what is she actually for Wes?" Angel called.

Wesley looked at the Immortal, who was over seeing this exchange of words. "Dawn is the Key to reality. She can, as Glory believed, be used to rip down the walls of reality. But her real purpose is to re-shape reality,"

The Immortal let out a smile. "Well done that man,"

Buffy looked up. "But if it has to be Draven who uses her, then you'll have no more luck than Glory. You're just going to rip apart the dimensions…"

Wesley shook his head. "That's why Lindsey is there. Draven re-animated him to serve his purpose, however the Immortal is figuring that he can use Lindsey as a sort of middle man,"

Willow looked confused, even in her new ghostly form. "But how can he control what Lindsey re-shapes the world as?"

"Since he returned, Lindsey has been deteriorating, slowly, but surely, his mind has been falling apart, and the Immortal has used this to his advantage…" Wesley trailed off.

"How do you know this Wesley?" Giles asked, very puzzled by the ex-watcher's knowledge.

Wesley let out a sob. It was hard containing himself at the best of times, but around those he considered friends was near impossible. "A deal with the devil, for lack of a better word…"

"What do you mean Wes?" Angel asked, "Who did you make a deal with?"

Wesley looked beyond his former comrade, just behind Angel. He could see Fred. His Fred, before Illyria had taken her for its host. She was smiling at Wesley.

"It's never the same… It always changes who it looks like…" Wesley muttered.

Buffy's eyes went wide. "The First?"

"Dear lord…" Giles gasped as he said these words.

"Wes, you made a deal with the first evil?" Angel was practically yelling.

Wesley looked at the image of Fred. She looked cross with him, but in that way where he knew he hadn't done anything that was going to get him in any real trouble.

"What were you thinking?" Buffy shrieked.

Wesley focussed on the group in front of him. "I have a mission… I am sent by God, or whatever it is that we fight for… I don't have to explain my actions to you…"

"When did you go all righteous crazy man?" Buffy retorted. "You sound like its last lacky, you sound like Caleb…"

Wesley looked at her, pain in his eyes. "I know what I'm doing Buffy" As the gang stared him down, he looked each one in turn in the eyes. "Trust me"

* * *

"It's no good watcher, you can't do anything…" The Immortal yelled at Wesley. "The process has begun!" 

The Immortals face lit up as Lindsey moved closer to Dawn. As he did so, Dawn began to glow. A bright green energy erupted from within her, and as Lindsey placed his hands in hers, she screamed. Her body contorted, it ripped, and finally broke. As it fell to the floor, two different coloured orbs of energy emerged. One, white in colour, flew directly into Buffy, ending her screams for her sister. She hit the floor. The Second energy ball was a bright green colour, and just as Dawn had, Lindsey's body contorted, ripped and finally broke, releasing a navy blue orb of energy. As the two energy bodies merged, the Immortal cupped the resulting orb in both hands and began his work.

* * *

Wesley closed his eyes and muttered an incantation. A portal opened above them, and through it fell Spike. His battered and bruised body landed on the concrete next to Buffy. Wesley opened his eyes, and looked at his friends. Angel looked back at him. 

"Wes?" He asked.

"If I can't save you, I'm sorry…" Wesley told him in a silent, firm voice. "I'll make this right. All of it"

And with that Wesley pulled out the vile with Spike's soul in and jumped at the energy barrier. Just as the white energy released from Had passed through the barrier, Wesley easily glided through the energy field, with Spike's soul leading the way. As he landed, he looked at the Immortal, who was oblivious to this event.

"Looks like I'm your Able" he muttered as he placed his hands around the Immortal's. The Immortal's eyes opened.

"What are you-" He was cut off.

"Helping you re-build this world" Wesley smiled as he told him.

A wave of energy expanded over the immediate area, and further, throughout the city, throughout the country, until the world was enveloped, and nothing would be the same again…

* * *

**Ok guys, thats the end of the first story. kind of short ending i know, and took forever to write. sorry. lol. um, i'll be starting the next story tonite. so it should be up tomorrow :) not all of it, but the first chapter, possibly two. hope you guys are still reading, and hope you enjoy the second part! the id number is: **2425836 **and its called "A World Apart"**  



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